Transformers: Search for the 13
by supernova22
Summary: With cybertron and all transformers in danger, Alpha Trion sends Optimus Prime on a quest across the cosmos to find the rest of the 13 original transformers. With a hand picked autobot crew and the spirit of Solus prime to guide him, Optimus must call upon all his bravery and ingenuity to find the first Primes and fulfill his destiny. Please review!
1. Chapter 1

**So, here's the start of my fic, hope you enjoy it. more chapters coming soon. As for the continuity it takes place, i guess it is mostly a g1/Aligned mixed based universe but im going to have lots of references or things based from other universes/series. As for how the characters look, i see them as looking like their WFC/FOC game selfs.**

**i am mostly keeping the back stories and history the way it has been established; it will be an even mix of stuff that IDW/Fun Publications had crated and what was revealed in the covenent of primus book. i will definitely get rid of some of their recent fiction that nobody is really fond of, like the fallen being a sympathetic character and his romance with solus, GOD I HATED THAT! obviously the fallen will be some sort of antagonist but im not sure how or who else i want to bring in. possibly some deceoticons, or quintessons, unicron, or a rogue transformer group. Please read and review, I love feedbac. new chapters will hopfully be posted daily.**

Optimus Prime entered the Hall of Records. It seemed like so long ago that he worked here as the archivist Orion Pax. Then he had risen to greatness for his beliefs and bravery in the autobots. It seemed so long ago that the Matrix of Leadership had been bestowed onto him and he became Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. He would gladly lay down his life to protect his home world of Cybertron from harm, but that was harder than it seemed as they had just seen the end of the long bloody, war with the decepticons, their mortal enemies. Optimus won the war by seriously damaging his mortal enemy megatron, the decepticon leader. Defeated and humiliated, megatron took what remained of his army and fled cybertron, swearing revenge. Since then peace had flourished, but guilt still clung to Optimus, for he had mercilessly beaten and damaged megatron that day. He displayed a vicious battle lust that he had never shown before or since yet it still haunted him. There were also rumors of a remaining underground decepticon force lurking on cybertron, but there had been little evidence to support this.

Thought since the war ended, Optimus now had new strength of mind, body and soul. Though he was full of new confidence and wisdom, he felt off, like a lingering fog lay over his mind. Since gaining the matrix, it was as if his mind had become a torrent of memories; memories that he couldn't actually remember but knew they existed. He also felt as if his his memories as Orion had somehow begun to fade. He put the idea aside, they could not fade because they were part of him, they made him who he was and made him worthy of carrying the matrix and leading the autobots.

Leading the autobots had proven taxing lately as strange occurrences and natural disaster had begun to plague cybertron. No one could quite figure out what the cause was. He had come to the hall of records at the behest of Alpha Trion, the head Archivist. Optimus made his way there at once upon receiving the message. Alpha Trion had been his mentor and friend for many, many years. It was his teachings that lead to optimus truly understanding what it was to be a prime and to stand up for his beliefs. Trion had sent a massage, saying that it was urgent that he come and see him. Optimus arrived at Trions large office and prepared to knock on the door when…

"there is no need to knock Optimus, please come in"

"how did you…?" optimus started to ask as he entered

"I have my ways optimus, and im not referring to hidden cameras" alpha trion smiled

Optimus then noticed a book underneath alpha trions arm, which was glowing. It was a very large, old looking, detailed and overall impressive looking book. Also, a very large golden glowing quill stuck out of it. Optimus knew what it was immediately.

"By the allspark, alpha trion, is that…?"

"yes, the covenant of primus"

"how, why?"

"all your questions will be answered soon my young friend, please follow me"

One of the walls in his office then folded away and opened up to an elevator shaft. Optimus followed him into it and the elevator began to decent through the massive shaft. It went on for miles and miles, deep under the surface. Optimus wanted to ask what this was all about but new it was best to wait and save his questions; he trusted his mentor. He did have a sneaking suspicion of where they were going but decided to wait and see. Finally they reached their destination. After exiting the elevator they walked down a long corridor and came to very large chamber. Optimus' suspicions were right; they had come to the core of cybertron.

"the core, the very spark of our maker, Primus!" trion announced

"why have we come here my friend, is something wrong with the core"

"I'm afraid so optimus"

"I will have the best autobot scientists down here immediately"

"that will not help optimus"

"why, what is wrong with it?"

"As you, and most of cybertron, know, the cosmic being primus became our world, and the core is his spark. His first creations were…?"

"The 13. The first cybertronians; the original primes. They represented the first of many of the transformers subspecies, and each held a piece of primus' spark."

"you remember your history well optimus."

"it is more than just history to me, more than me simply being a prime. I have known the legend of the 13 since I came online, I have always felt like it was a part of me"

"indeed…"

"alpha trion?"

"it's nothing. well, for reasons I have yet to understand, primus' spark has begun to weaken and fluctuate"

"causing the recent disasters on cybertron!"

"yes"

"How can the core be healed?" optimus asked worriedly

"the answer to that question is more complex than you could fathom, optimus prime" an echoing, female voice suddenly came

The two bots turn and from the light of the core a figure came into form. As it drew closer Optimus could see that it was a tall elegant silver fembot. She had long whitish-silver hair and grace to her step. Though fembots were usually smaller than male bots, she stood at about Optimus' height. Her form glowed with the energy of primus, which is when Optimus suddenly realized that she was a spark ghost, the manifested form of a spark that had joined with the Allspark. She smiled at optimus and his own spark warmed as alpha trion turned to him.

"Optimus Prime, it is my pleasure to introduce you to Solus Prime, my beloved sister"

As if on impulse Optimus dropped onto one knee and bowed to the ancient prime. A sweet smile spread across her face and she stifled a girlish giggle.

"rise optimus prime, there is no need for you to do that" she said sweetly

After some hesitation he did so. He took note of her amazing voice, which was feminine yet strong. Truly the voice of an angel.

"wait, alpha trion, you said sister…"

"yes, optimus my friend, I…am one of the 13 as well"

"that's…how"

"my true name is Trion Prime. when our brotherhood ruptured and split across the cosmos, I decided to stay on cybertron, to both watch over the spark of primus, and do what I could to help guide his people from within its folds and changed my name to keep from attracting attention"

"this is…unbelievable. And you Solus prime, you are…"

"yes, I am one with the allspark"

"surely optimus, you remember the history files of what happened to her" alpha trion quizzed

"yes…she was betrayed and slain by…The Fallen!"

"yes, our dark brother betrayed us and all that we once stood for. His act shattered our brotherhood and unity"

"alpha trion, what does the 13 have to do with the core weakening"

"as I said optimus, primus' spark is weakening. And is in danger of being extinguished"

"what! That cannot happen, what would that mean for cybertron, for our people!?"

"Death. If primus were to cease to be, so would cybertron, and all its children"

"nooo"

"all transformer sparks are born from and are part of the allspark, of primus. If he were to perish, so would all cybertronians across the universe"

"and the 13 can prevent this?"

"we believe we can optimus. Each of the 13 contains a part of primus' spark, bestowed to us when he created us" solus explains

"and as the new prime, it is my duty to seek them out?" optimus asks

Alpha trion and solus prime shared a knowing, thoughtful glance that gave optimus an odd feeling. There was something they were not telling him.

"yes Optimus, that is it. the matrix is a piece of primus as well, and can help lead you to them"

Alpha trion then opens the covenant and a brilliant light shines out of it. It forms an orb of light, similar to alpha trions super computer, vector sigma. Within it, moving images, memories from the past, began to play out as trion narrates.

"as you know, primus was a cosmic being who represents life and creation. Since the dawn of time he had waged war with his eternal opposite, unicron, the manifestation of chaos and destruction. Due to their being evenly matched, primus created, from his own essence, us, the 13. Weakened, he went into a comatose state, with his body transforming into cybertron. The 13s combined might was able to destroy unicron and banish his wrecked body and evil essence to another dimension; his eternal prison, though his darkness is still able to reach through and cause chaos here. Many years after that, primus had begun to create other forms of life to live on cybertron, the tranformers. It was then that the fallen, who was already a being consumed with hate and anger, was seduced by unicron from across the dimensional barrier. He abandoned his name, his honor, and his oath to primus to become and agent of chaos; the herald of unicron. He was eventually defeated and cast into the same prison his master resides in."

"forgive the interruption alpha trion, but, I have always wondered, as have many, what the fallens true name was?"

"none shall ever speak it again! His name is gone, along with any good that may have once held within him. None, not even us, his brethren, will ever utter it again!"

Optimus understood the severity of his mentors words and stayed silent. It was then that around the glowing covenant, 13 glowing forms. They were the 13. Each one a powerful imposing figure; alien in appearance campared to modern cybertron. The likes of them have not been seen in the universe since.

"now, optimus, excluding solus and myself, you have 10 of our brothers to seek out"

"10, don't you mean 11, what of the other?"

Alpha trion and solus prime looked up at one of the 13 images, its form mostly shrouded and blurred for some reason. Optimus could hardly make out any of his form.

"that is the 13th prime, our youngest brother. You…will not have to worry about him"

"why?

"he is…an odd situation. One that will resolve itself soon enough.

"if you are sure, very well"

"yes, so, these are the remaining members of the 13 that you must seek out; Prima, Vector Prime, Micronus Prime, Alchemist Prime, Nexus Prime, Onyx Prime, Amalgamous Prime, Quintus Prime, Logos Prime, and the fallen one"

"wait, if the fallen is an agent of unicron, and trapped in another dimension, how am i to convince him to save primus, or even locate him?"

"I am afraid, that is something you must discover yourself optimus. Alone."

"alone"

"yes optimus, this is your journey to make"

"I am sorry alpha trion, but I don't believe it is. The fate of all cybertronians is at stake, and they deserve to strive to safe guard it too. The autobots, my soldiers, my friends; I care about them too much to lie to them as if nothing's wrong and abandon them."

"optimus, this will be a perilous quest, like non ever attempted before"

"I understand that, and I will make it regardless. I would never make any autobot go, I will ensure that they know the stakes and risks and to only come if that is their choice"

"if that is what you think is best"

" I would not be where I am, be who I am today if it weren't for them supporting me, standing by me, encouraging me, and inspiring me. I simply would not be able to make this journey without them by my side"

Solus, and even trion, couldn't help but smile, both amused and inspired, by optimus' heart and devotion to his friends. He was a worthy Prime.

"very well optimus prime. And you will have some additional help with you as well. But for now go, swiftly, get your autobots, prepare you team and your ship. When you are ready, return here and I will give you some tools to aid you, go!."

And Optimus indeed left, making all speed for Iacon.

**So, hope you liked the first chapter. Stay tuned.**


	2. Chapter 2

Being leader of the autobots had its advantages. Optimus had what he needed on the spot. A ship was quickly prepared and was being fueled and stocked. The hardest part was picking his crew. All his autobots were dear friends and deep down, he wished he could take them all with him. But he knew that this was the most important task any of them, himself included, would ever undertake and he had to have the best of the autobots with him. Soon, everything was ready; his ship ready, his team selected and informed on the whole situation and goal of their quest, and a replacement as autobot commander in his stead. There was little to no thought to the decision. Ultra Magnus, head of the elite guard-the defenders of Iacon. He was primes first and only choice for the position. Now, with everything ready, and the night before launch, optimus returned to the chamber of Cybertrons core.

"optimus, at last, I must say you took longer than I thought. A prime should be swift in action."

"forgive me alpha trion, but a prime must also be clear in thought. One does want to be well prepared when they are saving the world after all" Optimus counters

Trion couldn't help but laugh at the superior response.

"oh optimus, a better prime to deal with this crisis just doesn't exist, haha"

Alpha trion threw a lever and a table, a small platform, levitates down from above.

"these, optimus, are powerful relics of the 13, left here ages ago and guarded. They are sacred and one of a kind, each of them. I now pass them on to you to aid in your quest."

"I am honored"

"first, this is the Forge of Solus Prime"

alpha trion attempted to hold up the item, a large, intricate, detailed and impressive looking forging hammer; it was nearly half the size of optimus himself. The old bot had some trouble holding it and optimus was forced to take it from him.

"sorry optimus, I'm an old bot, and the only weapon I've ever wielded has been this quill, to record in the covenant. Anyway, utilizing the power of a miniature neutron star at its very heart, the forge operates through the convergence of magic and science, an art long since lost to the ages. Through this, it can be used to effectively create anything out of anything. Anything except life. And as a prime, you can use that power. The forge, wielded by our craftsman, solus herself, was used to create all the other artifacts of the 13. It is even capable of crafting certain parts if cybertronian physiology. And, I assure you, it is a more than suitable weapon as well. It once left a dent the size of kaon in unicrons armor, hehe. Well next we have this"

Trion then picked up a small thick metal hexagon with a large glowing dial in the front.

"and this is?" optimus probed

"dont be fooled by its current, simple appearance optimus. This is the Apex armor. Activate it on yourself and you will be covered in the most impenetrable armor the universe has ever seen, and it can even enhance the wearers strength"

Optimus was taken aback by what trion held up next, a brilliant white and silver mighty sword.

"the star saber" optimus said in amazement

"yes, the weapon of Prima, first of and leader of the 13. The warrior of light, made almost in the image of primus himself. This sword can cleave mountains and light galaxys. The matrix of leadership itself once served as the hilt of the sword before become the emblem of the wisdom and power of the primes"

Optimus slowly took hold of the swords handle. He felt a wave of energy over take him as he brought it closer for a look. It was heavy for only a moment before becoming light as a feather. Never, not even after becoming a prime, had he ever imagined he would hold this blade. He was overcome with pride and inner strength as he held the sword over his head, it began to glow with a light that filled the chamber; even the core swelled a bit brighter in reaction.

"yes, optimus, I think you are the right prime for this" alpha trion said with a proud smile.

Alpha trion also brought out a book and handed it to optimus.

"I also made this for you optimus. I suppose you could call it a simplified version of the covenant of primus. I have recorded any and all information of the 13s past and each of its members. Everything there is to know about them and their last known locations or intentions. I hope it will help lead you. Consider it a guide of where to start and go next, and which member to seek out before or after another, depending on the situation."

"I will treasure it, treasure all of them. thank you, alpha trion"

"Oh my, I almost forgot optimus, one of the most important things"

Alpha trion then retrieved and handed to optimus an old looking satchel. Within were 12 small, ancient looking glowing orbs.

"what are these?"

"the most important part of your quest. They are condensed, portable space bridges."

"what?"

"yes, we created them long ago. I saved the last batch should we ever need to be reunited. Given the current situation, seems like it was a food idea. Once activated, all within its field are bridged right to this very chamber. I realized that you likely wouldn't be able to accommodate the other primes on your ship so you can simply send each one back here as you find them.

"these are ingenious. So many lost arts and knowledge you hold alpha trion"

"yees, well, if cybertron is saved and the 13 reunited, perhaps that knowledge can be spread to all cybertron"

"a dream I hope to see come true. With these many tools in hand, it would seem it is time to start my journey"

"optimus prime!" suddenly came the angelic voice of solus prime as her image appeared from the core.

"there is yet one more gift we have to bestow upon you to help your quest"

"what is this gift?"

"me" she smiled

Suddenly the glowing form of the dead prime dissipated into a torrent of energy that fly towards and encompassed Optimus. It then flooded into his chest and into the matrix itself. The rush disoriented optimus and he fought to stay standing. Just as he was about ask what happened solus' form appeared beside him.

"what did you do solus?"

"I merged my spark with the matrix. I am now one with it and you. I shall accompany and guide you on you quest to find my brothers"

"you are most welcome lady solus. Alpha trion…"

"yes, my young friend, the time has come. As before, I shall remain here to watch over the spark of primus and do what I can to help support it. Now go both of you. The future, of cybertron and all transformers, is in your hands optimus prime. go, reunite our family, bring the 13 primes together again and save primus, the spark that keeps on sparking."

"I shall, with all that I am. Farewell my teacher, until we meet again!" optimus announces as he transforms and speeds out of the chamber with the prime tools attached to the outside of his vehicle form.

Before returning to the matrix, Solus Primes spirit lingers with alpha trion for a few moments.

"how long do you think it will take for him to realize his true self, his true destiny?" solus asks

"I dont know sister, all I know is he surely will before this is all over. But you must not tell him! He must learn…must remember, on his own. I have faith in him."

**So that's it for now. Next chapter coming soon. Learn who optimus' crew is, what trions notes are, what solus has to add and where they begin their quest. As always, please review, I love feedback. And stay tuned.**


	3. Chapter 3

**So the journey begins, hope you guys are enjoying it so far. Just a heads up because it might be difficult to describe. The layout of the control room; basically imagine the control room of the ark from the first level of the "Fall of Cybertron" game(look in up on youtube) but scaled down to about the size of the command deck of the Enterprise from Star Trek(google it). their ship is basically a scaled down version of the ark. Just thought that would help to give you something to visualize.**

The quest to find the remainder of the 13 primes had begun. After an easy and uneventful launch, the autobots ship, dubbed the "Hand of Primus", was high in cybertrons orbit. The ship was much like the ARK in design and appearance, though was scaled down in size; only about a quarter of the size of the massive autobot ship.

Optimus had handpicked his 15 man crew, each one to serve certain purpose on this dangerous journey. Even those he brought simply because they were his closest friends, still would play large roles. The first he selected, who he knew would come, were of course Ratchet, Bumblebee, Jazz, Ironhide and Arcee. He was also thankful to have mirage along as well; his cloaking abilities would likely be needed. The others he selected were friends as well but were picked for their talents. First off was his second in command and the ships actual captain, commander Star Saber. For intelligence, as well as technical and inventive purposes, he selected Perceptor, the autobots best scientific mind. To assist him he had also brought the odd and crude, but still intelligent mini-con named Brains. Optimus considered bringing wheeljack, but couldn't afford his trademark accidents and exploding inventions on this important mission. He also brought Bulkhead, a large autobot who was a destructive force on the battle field, but who also had a mind for building; Drift, a skilled swordsmen, was recruited for both his battle skills and his spirituality, which optimus believed would be good to have; Override, a racing obsessed but a none-the-less strong and loyal female autobot; and for their air support and knowledge of deep space, he selected Jetfire and the leader of the Aerialbots, Silverbolt.

There was one other member of his crew that Optimus did not select, the enigmatic Maccadam. He was the Owner and manager of Maccadam's Old Oil House, a popular hot spot for just about any cybertronian. Maccadam himself was rarely seen but was a public celebrity in a sense; a Jack-of-all-trades that would help anybody with anything. He could acquire pretty much anything. Many rumors surrounded him. Optimus was unsure how the old bot had learned of the mission, and was even less sure about letting him come. With confidence, bravery, and more than a little charm, Maccadam managed to secure a spot in the crew.

The ship sat still in space above cybertron. Optimus was staring out through the large observation window before glancing around the control room. Jetfire and silverbolt sat at the head of the room as the pilot and co-pilot. To the left, preceptor and override sat at the scanning and readout station. To the right, Ironhide and bulkhead were at the ships defense and weapon controls. Star Saber was standing just behind the command chair, waiting for orders. At the back of the room by the door, the rest of the crew stood watching the launch. He suddenly realized that all eyes were on him. He knew what they were waiting for, their first heading. It was then the the matrix began to glow and the spirit of Solus appeared beside him. She smiled and nods to him and he nods back. He then notices preceptor behind her giving him a weird look, as are all the other. It is then that prime come to the realization, only he can see her. He is the only prime and her spark ghost was merged with the matrix, so none of the other autobots can see her. He knew he must keep that in mind at all times. The journey would not go smoothly if the autobots thought he was crazy and talking to someone who wasn't there.

"so, optimus, what's our heading?" jetfire finally asks

Optimus was unsure what to say because I didn't actually know himself. He glanced at Solus, who motioned towards the book Alpha trion had given him. He felt utterly foolish for forgetting it. As he opened it, he decided that since they were risking their lives, they would know all the information he did. And so he stood up from his seat and read the first of Alpha trion entries aloud.

_"Optimus Prime, or any other cybertronian reading this, I have compiled this journal based on my own knowledge of the other members of the 13, as well as with information recorded in the Covenant of primus. He gives detailed descriptions of each of its member, their histories, and the best route to finding them. There is in fact a best set order to the primes you must find, which is what I have set here. The first of the 13 I will send you to find will be a very difficult task. I believe it will help you to understand how dangerous and difficult your journey will be. Also, after this prime is located, it will make searching for some of the others seem much easier."_

Below the entry was a set of coordinates. Optimus showed them to jetfire who entered them into the autopilot. After a second the ship activated its warp drive and went into hyperspace.

"we're on our way prime, terminal estimates 6 hours to arrival. You know optimus, there is something familiar 'bout those coordinates"

Optimus then continued to read the entry.

"the coordinates will lead you to…"

Optimus paused reading and a serious look came over his face. The others all look worried and wondered what it was.

"optimus?" ratchet finally spoke up

"sir, what is it, where are we going?" star saber added

"The Quintessa system" he said grimly

The room filled with gasps and grunts. The Quintessa system was wear the wicked Quintesson race resided. A pompous, arrogant biomachnical race that saw itself as the rightful rulers of the universe. They once came to cybertron and attempted to enslave its people long ago but were driven away.

"well, that's it, we're all gonna die. Why don't we pull a Ue, head back home and get comfortable for the apocalypse, huh?"

"shut up brains" ironhide grunted

Optimus did not expect this. This was indeed going to be a difficult task. Few transformers has ever faced the quintessons and lived, or even gone to their home territory. He decided the best course was to keep reading, hoping that an answer to the situation lie in trions notes.

_"Now on to my brother that you seek, Quintus Prime. Quintus was one of the brightest among us. A daydreamer and perfectionist whose drive to express his ideas led him to become a scientist. He was the 10th one of us to be created by Primus and his brilliant mind helped to devise strategies for our battle against Unicron. __His scientific ideals and perfectionist tendencies caused him frequently butts heads with the less imaginative members of the Thirteen, to the point that he would sometimes look down on them for not being as intelligent as him. Quintus believes that life, in all its forms, is the most important thing in the universe and that it should be encouraged to grow and thrive at all costs throughout the galaxy. His ancient artifact was the Emberstone, which gave him the ability to create and seed planets with life. After the 13 separated, he left into space, planning to create new races of life forms. His goal was to make a similar race to those that had begun to sprout on cybertron, but perfected. This would not come to be. He instead created the quintessons, a bio mechanical race somewhat based on his own appearance, but were far from the elegant race he intended. They rebelled against the noble teaching he created them with and saw themselves as the universes master race and intended to bring all other species together under their "divinity". All I know at this time is that he is still alive and that Quintessa is the best place to begin your search for him."_

Optimus closed the book and sighed.

"override, brains, stay on the scanners. Bulkhead, drift, on battle station. Autobots, you have your down time and your rotation schedules for duties, please stick to them. Meeting in the conference room in one hour. Star saber, ironhide, jazz, jetfire, bumblebee and preceptor, please be there to work out an approach plan for when we reach our destination."

"yes sir!" the autobots all say together

"that will be all autobots. Star saber, the bridge is yours"

With that, the autobots dispersed and optimus headed for his quarters, tailed by solus prime. once there, he set the book down beside the other relics and signed. He sat on his berth and and rubbed his eyes.

"are you all right Optimus?"

"solus prime, what have you and alpha trion gotten us into. This mission started as a near impossible scavenger hunt across the cosmos and now we are going against one of cybertrons fiercest enemies, and we have only just begun."

"that's right optimus prime, it has only begun, and each part of this search not only bring cybertron closer to salvation, but will help you to grow into a better leader."

"I suppose you're right, this is all so off. And you never mentioned I would be the only one who could see you"

"I didn't know that myself. why don't you recharge a bit before your meeting"

"no, I need my mind clear, I will save that for afterwards. I will just take a sanitation shower."

Optimus started heading toward his shower when he realized solus was still in the room.

"may I have some privacy please solus?"

"oh, yes, I'm sorry. I'll just roam the ship a bit"

After a few hours, optimus and the autobots had worked out their plan. The ship would come out of light speed aways from the system and a small team would travel to one of the outer planets. The quintessons would likely have an outpost of sorts there. They were very methodical and precise in their actions and it seemed a likely outcome. They believed that if they took it they could interrogate any guard or even be able to access data banks for any evidence of Quintus prime. Optimus, along with bumblebee, arcee, jazz, drift, ironhide, override, jetfire and most importantly, mirage, made their way to a small cold planetoid on the outer reach of quintesson space. Part of the team waited in a cannon until mirage arcee and bumblebee returned from scouting. Finally they all reported back.

"yup, it's like you said prime, just a solitary outpost" arcee reported

"yup, if we do this right, we shouldn't have any trouble" bee adds

"mirage, what did you find?" optimus asks

"I got pretty close, it's a standard complex. It's got plenty of sharkticon and allicon guards for some reason"

"obviously, there is something worth protecting here"

As optimus said this, he looked up to see solus primes spirit looking out towards the compound, a thoughtful look on her face.

"from what I can tell there are at least a few actual Quintessons there. None of the judge leaders, but definitely a few scientists. The need someone to order the sharkticons around." Mirage added.

"Alright autobots, here's the plan. Mirage, covered by arcee and drift, will cloak and get around to the back of the facility. You MUST disable there communications. The rest of us will move to that outcropping just to the left, near the entrance. When you have succeeded, we will rush the guards from both sides and storm the complex. Understood"

"understood" the other say in unison

"Autobots, transform and roll out!"

They did just that and split up to head to their positions. As optimus and his team are waiting for mirage to accomplish his mission, solus appears again.

"Optimus, there is something about this place. I sense something, something familiar. I don't know what it is. It could be my brother"

Ironhide noticed something off about optimus. He wasn't the only one. Since the launch, at random times, optimus would seem…off. As is he was looking at something that wasn't there or listening to something that no one else could hear. This was most evident during the strategy meeting and the other could see tell as well.

"prime, you ok?'

"what, oh yes old friend, just listening for any guards nearby"

"riiiight"

"optimus, me and arcee are in position. Mirage is in position too, I think"

"did you have any trouble drift?"

"a few sparse guards, but I cut them down size before they could even grunt"

"this is mirage, I did it, their comms are down! Hurry, it won't take these squid geeks long to fix them and the interference shorted out my cloaker, their on to me, get into gear!"

"autobots attack!" optimus cried

The autobots charged forward, guns blazing and blades slashing. The sharkticons were visous brutes but they were not warriors. The autobots made short work of them as they forced their way into the complex. They met up with arcee and drift and the group headed to the top level. As they reach the command center, two more guards stood in their way. Just as they were about to engage them, the guard were blasted from behind. A very cocky looking mirage strutted into sight before holstering his gun.

"oh, I was wondering when you guys would show up"

Optimus just shook his head before walking forward, followed by solus, to confront the quintesson scientist cowering in the corner. Quintessons were destructive and immoral, but were also incredible cowards when the tide turned against them.

"what, what do you want, get away" the scientist yelled as he flailed his tenticles.

"you have nothing to fear from us quintesson, all we seek is information"

"it's yours, it is all yours, just leave me be!"

Optimus then heard a gasp, from solus. He looked to see the image of a bright greenish orb on a screen. She turned to look back at optimus, and he knew what it meant. That was the Emberstone, Qunitus Primes relic.

"Where is Quintus prime?" optimus said has grabbed the quintesson and held him up to look him in the eyes.

"who?"

"the owner if the emberstone, of that" optimus pointed to the screen

"you…you mean the Alpha Quintesson"

"alpha quintesson?"

"yes, he was our lord and master, our leader. He made us the great, superior being that we are. Then he betrayed us, tried to destroy us. We took his power source, this…emberstone. We tried to use it, to control, it gave us great power over others. We were the gods we should be, then he destroyed it to keep it from us. But he failed, the very facility is meant to make another one, our very own. That is not why you are here?

"I'll ask again, where is quintus prim…alpha quintesson?"

"he left, abandoned us. Went into exile after he destroyed the stone"

"we have pinpointed his location in a nearby planets ring, within a hollowed out asteroid"

"autobots we are done here" optimus said as he det the quitesson down.

"you are done forever cybertronians!" the quintesson squealed.

He activated a switch and with it one of the walls began to rise and a squad executioners came charging out.

"fools! that also activated an alarm on a secondary communication frequency, linked right to quintessa herself. They will come for you, you will all die. We conquered you miserable race once, we show do so again" the scientist laughed maniacally

The autobots were forced to engage the enemy in a furious fight. Though the autobots suffered some injuries, but were mostly unscathed. As the dust began to settle the quintesson attempted to make a break for it. Optimus, angry over the dirty trick, blasted the quint in the back, the force of which hurled it through the window to the ground below.

"leaking lubricants, prime" ironhide said

"accursed squids" bumblebee growled

"autobots, set this facility to blow. We cannot let the data here survive. We cannot let the quintessons copy the emeberstone, the very power of a prime."

As the autobots set about the building, setting charges, optimus had a moment alone to converse with solus prime.

"so, that was what I sensed before, the copy they were building"

"so the real emberstone is gone, forever"

"optimus, are you talking to yourself, AGAIN" ironhide came in

"oh, ironhide, I…."

"optimus, what's going on with you lately, you can tell me"

Optimus looked past ironhide to solus behind him. She had a mostly indifferent expression and simply shrugged, apparently content with whatever he chose to do.

"ironhide, ask me again, later, back on the ship, and I'll tell you everything, I swear."

"charges set optimus, we're ready to blow and stow" jazz reported

"Optimus!" star sabers voice suddenly came over the comms

"what is it, star saber?"

"preceptor has some information I think you should hear"

"report preceptor"

"optimus, I've been listening in on your progress. Based on the quintessons testimony, I believe I have deduced the location of the planet he spoke of. Upon further investigation, there seems to be a natural, but unnaturally altered object in its rings. My hypothesis is…"

"that's were quintus prime is" optimus finished

"optimus, scanners are picking multiple quintesson ships coming out from the center of the system and heading right for you, get out of there now!" saber reported

"autobots, lets roll!"

The autobots headed back to their shuttle at full speed while the facility erupted in a fireball. They made it back to the shuttle, and the shuttle back to the ship with no time to spare. Optimus made it to the bridge.

"situation!?"

Under fire sir, the quintesson fleet is upon us!"

"use the coordinates of the ringed planet and go to hyperspace, now!"

They did just that and managed to elude their enemies with minimal damage, for now. The quintessons were clever, to clever. Once they have time to piece everything together they will undoubtedly calculate where the autobots were going. Within minutes the autobots arrived at the correct destination. After sometime of searching they finally found the right asteroid. They could see a small docking door which the ship used. Optimus and solus stood side by side as the doors opened, this was the moment they had been waiting for.

**Sorry to do this, but I wanted to leave this chapter on a cliffhanger. A lot happened in this one and I have a lot planned for the next one. Stay tuned.**


	4. Chapter 4

Optimus, solus primes spirit and the autobobts moved cautiously into the hollowed asteroid they had docked with. Even the unarmed Maccadam, who insisted on coming as well, seemed cautious. It had been made into a small facility. Though they were expecting to find the prime they were looking for, they moved slowly, weapons primed in case the quintessons had beaten them there. Star Saber, Silverbolt, brains and arcee were left on board to guard the ship and watch for the quintesson fleet. The search party finally came to the large center of the facility. There were no signs of life.

"Quintus prime!" optimus finally called out

After the echo of his words faded, there was just silence, which seemed to linger and almost creep into the sparks of all present. It was quite unnerving. It was quiet for a few moments before the sound of movement was heard above. Suddenly a large figure descended to confront them. The form they saw was like none they had seen before. He stood a bit taller than optimus but also hunched in its stance. Its body was the form of a superior being, of elegance. His body was a conjunction of science and pure energy. It had a large, monstrous looking head, with big, bright yellow eyes. However, within the open maw of this "head" was a second head; his true head, hidden behind the repulsive visage of its out appearance. The face was old in appearance but soft and kindly looking, not unlike alpha trion himself. It had a strangely shaped and crested head with multiple eyes and an angular mouth. A large halo of sorts clung to its back and rose behind it which was covered with ancient cybertronian writing and crackled with power. Four pylons reached from the edges to the middle of the halo and seemed to converge on something that wasnt there. It also seemed to wear some form of tunic or lab coat with multiple smaller garbs that reached down its body. The being had four long arms and no legs. Where legs would usually be, its body transitioned into a mass of large wire like tentacles, each tipped with two claw-like pincers. If one looked close enough, it did in fact look like a quintesson, or more accurately, they looked like it.

"who are you, and how do you know my name?" it asked

His voice was soft and whispery and The autobots just stared in amazement.

"Quintus prime, my name is…"

"optimus, optimus prime!" he exclaimed

"yes, how did you know"

"how, but…"

Quintus, as a prime, was also able to see solus primes spark ghost.

"sister!?"

The other autobots all began to wonder what he was talking about. Solus began crossing her arm across her neck in the kill signal, signaling quintus to drop it.

"oh, well um"

"now he's doing it too, talking to nothing. I'm starting to wonder if all primes are this crazy" ironhide whispered to ratchet

"and…optimus?"

Solus began gesturing again, even more wildly; luckily she was behind optimus, so he didn't notice her.

"yes, but how did you know my name?"

"i…um, sensed, through the matrix of leadership, which I see you bear. Yes, that's it."

Quintus prime was being of science; usually as clear and composed as preceptor. However, this whole series of unimaginable events had caused him to come off as a bit absent minded. Finally his calm, intelligent demeanor returned.

"why have you sought me out?"

"quintus prime, we have come to ask you to return to cybertron. It is in great peril, it needs you.

"that would explain much of late. I have felt a lingering pain in my spark. And ancient connection pulsating...and fading. But no! I cannot. I have disgraced primus; hurt cybertron. I created a vile race who sought and still seeks to conquer it's people!"

"the quintessons"

"yes, with the emberstone"

He gestured towards the halo on his back; the empty spot between the pylons was apparently where the emberstone once sat.

"I sought to create a perfect race, much like Cybertronians. They were to be companions, brothers. But I faltered. I suppose I instilled to much of myself...my arrogant superiority into them. Their pride and arrogance is my own; I saw myself as a higher, greater being, and they showed me what that kind of thinking leads to. They finally took the emberstone from me, used it to create armies and slaves, abusing its power. I had no choice; I took it back and...destroyed it. Ashamed of the scourge I had created, and to proud to return to cybertron, I isolated myself here, to wallow in my own pity and conduct any experiment that took my fancy."

He raised a hand and a cage levitated down from an upper level.

"this is my most current one"

Within was a disgusting looking green, insectoid creature. Upon closer inspection, it was actually a cybertronian. From the look of him, he was part organic and part transformer. The autobots were all disgusted, not by the bot but by what quintus had done to him.

"wazzzzpinatorrr zzzick of exzzzzperiment, want outzzzz" the creature buzzed

"by the allspark, what have you done to this poor bot!?" ratchet demanded

"mind your tongue autobot, respect your elders!" quintus sneered

Ratchet was taken aback; as an old bot, he was usually the one saying that.

"inspired by my brother onyx prime, who was the first transformer with a best mode, I have attempted to replicate that, but in a different way. I sought to create a technorganic, an being that was a perfect biological blend of cybertronian and organic matter. This subject, dubbed waspinator, was a wondering half-mad decepticon that I found on the brink of death. After many, many failed experiments, he is the first successful result"

"Success, ya call that twitching, stuttering, ugly piece of scrap a success! Uh, no offence buddy" ironhide came out

"none takenzzz" waspinator responded with a creepy grin

"I assure you, he was worse off before. While the experiments were painful, to a degree, they seemed to help returned, some, of his sanity. He has also shown an abnormal, almost supernatural, talent for survival"

"wazzpinator izzz a zzurviver, but that doeszzznt mean it didntzzz hurt like hellzzzz"

Quintus tried to avoid the bug eyed glare from his test subject, only to be met with the disapproving glares of the autobots, even the two present primes.

"enough, optimus prime, you said cybertron is in danger, what danger?"

"its core, primus' spark, has begun to fade. Alpha trion believes the combined power of the 13 can stop this and heal it. Will you return?"

Quintus paused, in deep thought.

"I shall, I can do nothing else. I do not believe I am even capable of refusing to do so. You have done well to face the quitessons and track me down, dear optimus prime. shall we leave"

Quintus began to move towards the autobots and his vision lingered on Maccadam for a moment, when he suddenly came upon preceptor. The autobot scientist merely gaped at the prime; the greatest scientific mind cybertron and possibly the universe had ever known.

"teach me, teach me everything, everything you know. I beseech you mighty prime" preceptor uncharacteristically begged

The other autobots just laughed while quintus seemed flattered. He put his arms on perceptors shoulders.

"well, a fellow seeker of knowledge, splendid, we shall…"

"quintus, you will not accompany us" optimus interrupted

"I beg your pardon, optimus"

Optimus opened is hand to reveal one of the condesned space bridge genertaors alpha trion had given him.

"haha, I rememebr these, I made these you know, brilliant devises, one must consider every eventuality you know, well then, I bid you all farewell and…."

Quintus was silenced by optimus suddenly pulling his hand away.

"what's this?"

"first, quitus prime, release him!" optimus said, pointing to poor waspinator in his cage.

Quitus looked between the two, wanting to object, but the look of compassion, of sheer resolve, in optimus' eyes bested him.

"very well optimus, seems a shame, so much hard work, lost"

With a wave of one of his hands, the cage opened and waspinator stumbled out, confused. Why had this bot he had just met helped him; he didn't understand. Optimus reached out his hand to the twitching bot.

"you are free, and you may come with us if you wish" optimus said calmly

Waspinator paused, thinking. For a moment it seemed he would take optimus' hand, when he suddenly transformed into his large organic wasp mode. He bussed in place for a few moments before flying past the group towards the exit corridor.

"yezzzzzz, wazzzpinator free at lazzzzzzt, weeeeehehhe" he yelled as he disappeared.

"I'm not the brightest bot here but even I could have told you that was gonna happen" Maccadam smirked

Quintus' eyes were drawn to the odd bot once again and lingered on him for a time. He seemed quite interested in the "nothing out of the ordinary" bot. solus took note of this and began to fixate on Maccadam as well. The short stout bot just smiled a big smile their way. Quintus and solus shared a brief glance before he turned back to optimus, who finally handed him the orb. Quintus moved towards the center of the room, putting some distance between himself and the autobots.

"thank you, all of you, for making this journey. I shall tell alpha trion of the dangers you faced coming here and I wish you all the luck of primus on the rest of your journey"

He then turned to optimus.

"till all are one"

The old cybertronian chant; Optimus had heard it and said it countless times but, hearing one of the 13 say. It held new meaning to him, as if it now meant more. Quintus activated the orb and a large ball of energy appeared and encompassed him and in a flash of light, vanished.

"well…that's one down, good job autobots" jazz spoke up

"correct jazz, we are one step closer to saving cybertron, lets head back to the ship and…"

"prime, come it!" came star sabers voice

"optimus here, what is it captain"

"they're here, the quintesson fleet, it's huge, they're coming right for us. How much more time do you need!"

"we're done here star saber, prime engines, raise shield and set the autoguns, we're on our way. Autobots roll out back to the ship!"

The autobots wasted no time in getting aboard the "Hand" and getting to their stations. Sure enough, the quitesson fleet was in sight now and approaching in mass.

"eesh prime, im getting a lot of audio signals here, them squids are screaming and cursing at us on every frequency with every one of their crazy swapping faces" brains reported

"Jetfire, get us out of here!" prime ordered

"You got it"

The ship started fleeing in the other direction past the planet.

"prepare to go to light speed"

"optimus, wait, they may calculate and track our trajectory and simply track us again" star saber argued

"and what about the lab, they might find it, and get their nasty tentacles on all of quintus primes experiments, I don't think that would end well" bumblebee added.

Optimus realized they were right,; they couldn't let that happen.

"optimus, I have scanned the planet. It is an exceptionally gassy and volatile planet that, under the right circumstances, may be able to be ignited and combust. Though there is high risk to ourselves, it is also a means to possibly dispatch our aggressors and cover our escape" preceptor announced

"ugh, escape, I hate that word" ironhide groaned

"is it not better than being blasted to atoms by a superior enemy force" drift asked

"In a battle, I'd much rather go down fighting than turn tale and run"

"under the circumstances and the consequences should we fail, that is not an option" ratchet countered

"yeah, there are more lives than just ours on the line here old timer" bee added, earned him a smack from the veteran

"agreed. Yet, we have no means of igniting the planet" optimus thought out loud

"I know how, put some distance between us and this planet!" star saber said as he said sprinted from the room

"where are you going wing saber, do you have a plan?"

"yes, now get out of here…sir!"

As the "Hand" moved away from the planet, and the quintesson fleet getting closer and closer, wing saber left the ship, transformed to his jet fighter mode and sped back to quintus primes lab. Once inside, he looked for something, anything, that was big and would blow. He happened upon the bases guidance system and shut it down, causes the facility to already start to drift towards the planet. I finally came across a huge generator that seemed to still be supplying energy to the whole base.

"this is going to be a BIG bang!"

He slashed the generator with his sword but nothing happened save for a few sparks.

"what, no boom! why you stupid piece of slag!"

He kicked the generator, which suddenly began to spew flames and overload the surrounding machinery.

"whoa, that did, time to jet!"

He transformed and zoomed out of the falling base, right into a squad of quitesson fighters. After a few fancy maneuvers and blasting his enemies he was on his way back to the "Hand", unfortunately followed close behind by the enemy fleet.

"jetfire, be ready to go to light speed as soon as star saber on board" optimus ordered

"on your word optimus"

"star saber is peppered with enemy fire, as is the autobots ship, until, with a little help from his turbo boosters, he put enough distance between them. Suddenly there was a flash. The autobots turned to see the planet erupt in a super nova-like explosion.

"haha, knew it would work…uh oh"

Jetfire realized that eruption of the planet was gaining on their position quickly, staring to destroy and obliterate the quitesson ships. Just finally getting close enough, star saber transformed and stretched out his fingers, reaching the airlock. He hauled his battered and bleeding form in.

"prime, im in!"

"now jetfire" optimus shouted

"right, light speed in 3...2...1!"

As the light speed engines burst to life, the autobots were able to watch for a few seconds as the quintesson fleet is completely eradicated in the wave of destruction. The ship busts away into hyperspace moment before they are hit. With a moment of quiet, the autobots are all able to share a sigh of relief.

"well, that wasn't such a chore was it" Maccadam smiled, earning many unamused looks.

"we should attend to star saber. Bumblebee, arcee, please assist him."

"sure thing optimus" bee replies

"pleasure" arcee adds

"jetfire, get us clear out of quintesson territory then take us out of light speed so we may make repairs and plan our next course"

"aye aye optimus. And than i'll have to go congratulate star saber myself. That was a stunt that i could see me pulling off, but not a stout. by-the-books commander like him"

Back in the quintesson territory, very close to where the battle just took place, a lone ship drifts. A rouge vessel, full of various mixed alien weapons and all manor of devises. It's owner, a "simple" cybertronian bounty hunter by the name of Lockdown. He looked to one of the cameras on his console which showed the panicking wapsinator, who had been pulled aboard by the ships tractor beam.

"well isnt this all very interesting, and possibly...profitable"

He made his way down to the cargo hold. As he entered, the hyperactive waspinator shrunk back in silence, frightened by the bounty hunters imposing presence.

"tell me what you know, bug, i want to know...everything"

if you caught the reference, quintus prime is based on alpha Q from the energon series. thought it was good image to work with.


	5. Chapter 5

In the hours that followed, the t ship was repaired, and star sabers wounds healed, he was praised by all the autobots for his heroism. However, things were still serious, but also just what the autobots were used to; working together towards a common goal. Most of the autobots were close and got along well. However, the presence Maccadam somewhat inhibited that. No matter where you were on the "Hand", he would pop up, act happy and oblivious and inevitably get in your way. He was talkative and disruptive. His worse attribute, which none of the rumors about him back on cybertron mentioned, was what notorious prankster he was. Everything from small jokes to big elaborate ones that would leave a whole toom in shambles. No matter what scolding or lecturing he received, even from optimus, he remained cheery and ignorant.

"i never should have let him on board"

Optimus was walking down one of the halls with solus prime.

"he is so destructive. On cybertron he was always said to be a kind upstanding bot. never anything about him being so…"

"mischievous" she finished, though more to her own thoughts than his

"yes, an why did you and quintus prime take such an interest in him"

"I'm not sure, for a secon, when he smiled there was just something, familiar"

Optimus came to the ships wreck room, where most of the autobots were. After everything they needed some relaxation. The only 3 missing were silverbolt, brains and Maccadam, who were all currently on bridge duty. Thae autobots all nodded to optimus when suddenly ironhide stood up and spit out his cigar.

"ok optimus time to come clean"

All the autobost attention was now drawn and optimus felt a bit nervous under their gaze.

"ironhide?"

"you said to sk you back on the ship, and we're on the ship, and everyone is wondering, what is going on with you?"

"you been off ever since launch optimus, looking like something is enxt to you when it's not and looking as if you are listening to something that we aren't hearing" ratchet adds

"Plus, there have been a few instances of you talking to yourself. We have all heard it" bumblebee adds

"do you need a medical exam" ratchet asks, concerned

No, it's not just him, there was that thing with quintus prime. He did it too and said solus" star saber speaks up

Optimus glanced to his side at solus; she nodded with smile.

"autobots, you deserve to know the truth. One of the 13 is, in fact, among us"

The autobots all looked around in shock and confusion.

"since I went to the core of cybertron before we left, we have been accompanied by the spark of solus prime."

"optimus, are you serious? Bumblebee manages to get out

"yes, she has merged her spark with the matrix of leadership so that she may accompany an guide us to find her brothers. She is a spark ghost and has been among us this whole time. Regrettably, as a prime and the holder of the matrix, it became apparent that I am the only one that can see or hear her."

"ok, he's cracked" mirage poked

"optimus, that seems rather unlikely" preceptor adds

"yeah, prime, I mean I can swing with all this mystic stuff, but just you being able to see and hear sounds a little off" jazz admits

Solus began to fume, angrily. She took offensive to their disbelief. She suddenly got an idea that jus might work. She immediately headed towards the closest female tranformer, arcee.

"you dare doubt me, and more, mock your leader" arcee spoke

The autobots all looked to her in chock, for a completely different voice came from her.

"I am solus prime, and I am here with you. From the beginning of your quest to the end I shall remain"

"arcee?" bulkhead probed

"I have taken temporary possession of her body to use her physical form and speak to you myself"

"It is a miracle, a blessing from primus" drift proclaimed

"my ability to do so is based on the fact that I was the first female cybertronian, and so all future generation of females are part of me"

Nautica instinctively shuffled away a bit.

"stay out of my head" she whined, earning smile form solus

"Well, that's a load off my spark, I think" ironhide admitted

"It seems I may be able to remain with you for now. Arcees mind and mine are one for now and she is mentally communicating with me. Now knowing my situation, she has allowed me to remain in possession of her body for the time being so that I may better serve our cause"

"well, as long as arcee is alright with it" optimus voices

"I assure you, she is quite accepting towards the arrangement. Now, if you would kindly excuse me for a bit, she is asking me to go give Brains a good slap for rude comment he made to her" she said as she walked past optimus and out of the room.

"well, I kinda feel like a slag for brains" ironhide admitted

The other autobots all admit the same.

"we shouldn't have doubted you optimus" ratchet adds

"thank you autobots, but you had every right to be suspicious. I am simply glad that it is all out in the open now. being so secretive was very taxing for me"

"ah, optimus, while we have a few minutes while she is gone, well, does that notebook you got have anything about her. It's just I never knew much about the 13, and she is going to be among us, it might be good to know a bit more about her" bumblebee admitted

"very well my friend, there is in fact" optimus said

Optimus pulled out the book, which he kept on hand lately. He turned to alpha trions notes about solus and read them out loud.

_"Solus Prime was truly a special member of our brotherhood. The only female of our family and the 4th of us created by Primus. All future females on cyebrtron were decedents of her. She was the master architect and builder of the group, a weapons smith and creator like none the universe had ever seen. She made nearly all the other weapons and artifacts of the 13 with her very own, The Forge. It was a massive and mystically powerful hammer that could create nearly anything. She was loved by us all for her intelligence, positive attitude and supportive personality. If she has any flaws, it is her fierce temper that quickly flares up at any sign of injustice or inharmony. She found joy in creation, which is why she was particularly close friends to Nexus Prime, who reveled in similar pursuits. Her relationship with nexus was especially strong, and many of us believed in the growing romantic feelings between them. They were so alike after all. However, one of her greatest creations was in fact the worst, and became her downfall. Commissioned by our dark brother, the fallen, she created the most terrible weapon ever, The Requiem Blaster. She at first believed that he was responsible enough to handle it, but this changed when she realized how much power corrupts. He became a destructive force, driven by anger and hate. Eventually, she believed that he could no longer handle the power of it and said he should return the blaster so it could be destroyed. This betrayal, along with his jealousy of her feelings for nexus, were the breaking point for the fallen. In a fit of rage he used the requiem blaster and struck solus down. Here death sealed the fallens betrayal of his name and ideals and forced the hand of the other primes against him. More importantly, solus' murder was what shattered the 13s unity, forever."_

The autobots all stood in silence for some time, shaken by the tale. Even optimus was uncomfortable. He had learned much about the 13 during his life, but aside from alpha trion, he had never known any of the greater details of any of their lives. Solus eventually returned to the room.

"well, now that that's taken care of we…"

She paused as she noticed all eyes upon her, with a mix of pity and intrigue in them. she turned to see optimsu with the book open and she understood.

"ah, so, now my tale, too, is known. Please, all of you, treat me based on who I am, not based on the events of my past. In my many years being one with the allspark I have made peace with that which has been."

"if you are at peace with it, the so are we solus" optimus says kindly

"aye!" the other autobots add

"thank you"

"optimus, if you don't mind me asking, is there anything about alpha trion in there. I mean he has been around a long time and nobody ever knew he was one of the 13. Not even you and you're the only person close to him" bulkhead asks

"I doubt alpha trion would be so self-centered as to summarize himself" solus speaks up

"But, I can tell you all there is to know about my older brother. His true name is actually Trion Prime, though he changed it to hide his identity ages ago. The 3rd created among us, he was always a sage old bot, more interested observation than action. From the beginning of your kinds creation he cared for and nurtured it. He always understood the greater scope of the universe and all our parts in it. When we were created, he was gifted with the Covenant of Primus from our creator himself. This mystical book reveled the past, recorded the present, and even gave glimpses of the future. He was also gifted with "The Quill". The Quill is an infinitely powerful artifact and one of the most powerful items in creation. It has the power to change the future of the Universe itself. When used together with the Covenant of Primus, the Quill has a limited ability to literally write new events into the future. This is not a power to be used lightly, which trion always understood, and he guarded them carefully. When the 13 broke up and separated around the universe, he chose to stay on cybertron and contribute as much as he could to the developing tranformer society. Alchemist prime assisted him with this for a time before leaving cybertron as well. Alpha trion swore never to leave and created the super computer known as vector sigma as a means to watch over and communicate with the spark of primus."

"wow" Bumblebee admitted

"yes, well, I don't tell stories as good as him but I think you have the jist" solus smiled

"optimus" silverbolt said as he appeared on a screen in the room

"what is it?"

"we are all repaired and ready to go, what is our next heading?"

"lets see" optimus said

He opened the book to trion next entry after quintus prime and began to read aloud.

_"well, if you are reading this, then you have succeeded in finding the first prime. Well done. It may have been a difficult task but now you have another one. Now you seek Prima, the greatest of the 13. The 1st of us created and our heroic leader. He was the archetypical hero, made almost in the image of primus himself and very much like him. He was a warrior of light in every sense of the word. He was chivalrous and righteous, which did on occasion make him arrogant. He acted as the older brother to us all and took all responsibility onto his own shoulders. As the first and the most like primus, he always saw himself as right and just. He was a great warrior, especially with his signature weapon and symbol of his position, the legendary star saber sword. Able to slice mountains and emit waves of energy, it's hilt was once the matrix of leadership itself. However, Primas righteousness also had a negative side. It always put him at odds with the defiant Fallen. The two were heated rivals, like opposites. Prima viewed the fallen as reflection of unicron and considered him as such. They clashed on every occasion and it was largely due to primas treatment of him that caused the fallen to turn against us. Prima realized this all too well. Knowing his arrogance was one of the poisons that broke the 13, he threw down his sword, gave up the matrix of leadership and chose to leave cybertron in dishonor. None of the rest of usever truly held it against him; he was mostly holding it against himself. He fled to the only refuge he had, a former battle field, the only place he felt he ever had control. This particular one is the remains of planet unicron had ruined in the Scion galaxy. Whether he is still there remains to be seen. good luck._

"how the mighty do fall" drift commented solemnly

All the autobots were silent.

"wow, I'm named after a legendry sword, not bad" star saber broke the silence

"well, silverbolt, you have our heading, set course for the Scion galaxy"

Far out across space, in his hunter ship, Lockdown starts organizing possibly the biggest transaction of his career. He opens a communication channel to his "client", the only image to be seen on the screen was a large horned shadow with large red eyes.

"mighty Liege Maximo, I have some…interesting information that you might be interested in"

"bounty hunter, I have no time for your small quarries and pointless scavenged technologies" the voice boomed

"even if it's information concerning primes…and the 13?"

"I'm listening"

"I have a recording of a testimony from one of my recent prisoners that you may want to hear"

"what is your price"

"oh, well that's the question isn't it" lockdown grinned

The being did not answer for a few moments. Lockdown started to worry, was the liege maximo really not interested, or had he over stepped his bound requesting his payment. Finally, his client held up a bright yellow orb.

"would an infinite quantum core be sufficient for you, bounty hunter?"

"hooo mama, I mean, yes, that will do, transmitting the info now"

"I will send one of my ships out to deliver your payment. Goodbye bounty hunter"

"huh, would it kill him you use my name, he acts like he's so high and mighty, well, we'll see about that"

Lockdown glanced down at the planet he was hovering over. A cybertronian colony had once been here, which later became a decepticon base during the war. It had since been mostly overrun by the planets natural life. Lockdown brought his ship down in the middle of the settlement. He strutted confidently into the sunlight, dragging the bound waspinator with him.

"let's go ugly, you have one more person to tell your tale to"

"anozzzer clietzzzz of yourzzzz?"

"no, this one is just for the pleasure, pleasure of seeing the chaos that will ensue because of it" he smiled

He made his way to an open courtyard where a figure sat with its back to the wall. At first glance it may appear to just be a statue, but it was much more. Lockdown approached the figure, cautiously. Finally he caught its attention and he haulted.

"you"

"mighty megatron, leader of the decepticons! how the mighty have fallen"

Megatron paid the bounty hunter little attention as he sat in silence, as he had done, day in and day out, for so long. He was once a mighty warrior, leader of the decepticon army. They were so close to ruling all of cybertron, and then optimus came along; his hated enemy and eternal rival, optimus prime, leader of the autobots. They waged war for years. The decepticons were the stronger force but prime was so "inspiring" that his autobots fought ten times as hard for him. He remebered that final battle, at tiger pax, where he was defeated and cast down. In the middle of the battle field he and optimus clashed, he had the upper hand, when the matrix the prime carried flared. He was blinded and disoriented for a moment while prime, suddenly filled with a new fighting spirit, pounced. What ensued was a flurry of punches and attacks that left both battered and bruised, but still standing. Megatron, wanting to finally destroy prime, lunged at him, firing his arm mounted fusion cannon. Optimus retaliated by swiftly cleaving his forearm off. Being injured and losing his weapon didn't stall him and he attacked again. Only for optimus to use his own fallen weapon against him. Prime blasted him in the head, destroying part of his head and face. Prime, not ceasing the attack, fired a full blast of the cannon into his chest as well, sending him flying backwards. He layed, helpless as a pile of scrap, until his troops came and helped him to safety. Disgraced and beaten, he ordered the decepticons to retreat, from cybertron itself. Before losing consciousness, he cursed prime from across the battle field, swearing revenge. Once his wounds were mostly healed he broke off on his own, exiled in disgrace. He came to this place to stew in his own self-loathing. His mighty body now dirty, dented and rusted; his head wound still visible and his once mighty fusion cannon sat on his back as a much weaker weapon now falling into disrepair. He was a fallen king, and he knew that he would remain that way. He even wore a tattered rag as a cowl, a symbol of his role a scavenging nobody.

"have you come to mock me, bounty hunter…?"

Megatron slowly stood up, his rusted body creaking as he did. In a movement faster than one in his condition should be capable of, he drew his cannon and pointed it right at lockdown; its barrel only inches from his face.

"or have you come to surrender your spark!?"

Lockdown did his best to hold his ground and keep a tough face.

"neither, mighty megatron. I have some information that you may be interested in "

"for what price, I am the king of an empire if scrap, take what you choose"

"this one's a freebie" he grinned

"now you dare insult me! You don't do anything for free!"

"this one is because I am interested to see what the results may yield"

Megatron slid back down into his sitting position. He pulled the hood of his rag over his head.

"whatever con you are concocting, I have no interest in…"

"it concerns optimus prime"

Megatrons head shot back up and his red eyes flared from under his hood. He got up and walked back over to lockdown and glared down at the smaller bot.

"priiiiime, what of him?"

"tell him, everything you know!"

Lockdown yanked the chain holding waspintor. The bug was pulled forwards and fell right at megatrons feet. Waspintor was once a decepticon but had never seen their great leader. Even in his damaged state he was still a dominating presence. Waspinator shrunk back, shaking, buzzing an twitching.

"speak" megatron growled

After a few minutes, waspintor had told megatron everything he knew and heard.

"optimus prime, on a small ship, deep in space, with only a handful of autobots to back him. Yeeeeeeesssss" megatron mused

"and searching for the 13" lockdown added

"very, very interesting. It seems fate has decided to provide me with a new opportunity, and I shall not be so foolish as to ignore it. Bounty hunter, where's your ship, we are leaving!"

"pardon, I simply informed you of this information, I don't intend to interfere in…"

Lockdown was silenced by megatrons large hand wrapping around his neck and pulling him up to his eye level. Megatron pressed his cannon against the side of lockdowns head and smiled; his sharp jagged teeth would scare even a sharkticon.

"I said we're leaving, either you're coming…"

Megatron the pressured the barrel of the cannon against his head a little harder.

"or you're not"

"when do we leave?" lockdown smiled nervously

"now"

Megatron dropped lockdown and reached for waspinator. The small bot began to twitch and panic when suddenly the decepticon leader tore his bonds off. Waspintor looked up at the decepticon leader in surprise.

"come…decepticon"

Waspintor fluttered up and followed behind megatron as they made their back to lockdowns ship. They were off planet within minutes.

"lockdown, open a transmission on decepticon frequencies only"

"done"

"Decepticons across the galaxy, your leader, megatron, has returned. Yes, I yet live, and we may yet have a chance at vengeance against the autobots. I call all of you to arms; those still willing to follow, to fight for me. Rally to the signal of the ship broadcasting this message; glory may yet be ours. Decepticons, transform and rise up!"

"that was so inspiring, I think I'm gonna cry" lockdown mocked

"it wazzzz magnificantzzzzz, do you think they will comzzzzz?"

"yes, they will come"

Megatron stares out into the void, his mind focused on one thing.

"Optimus Prime, I'm coming…for you"


	6. Chapter 6

**So, I really liked doing this chapter. If you're a fan of the Lord of the Rings movies, you may recognize the latter part of this chapter being based on one of its scenes. Enjoy.**

The autobots headed towards the Scion galaxy with all speed. Optimus seemed much more keen on getting to Prima, leader of the 13. He felt that it was paramount to find and secure such a strong piece of the group. Optimus sat in a chair in his quarters, looking at a screen, double checking information; readouts and reports. Suddenly there was a knock at his door.

"come in"

It was arcee, or more accurately, solus prime, possessing her body.

"solus, what can i do for you?"

When he received no answer he turned to look at her fully. Her eyes lingered on the forge, which sat with the other relics on a table in primes quarters.

"you missed it didn't you?"

"yes. I spent so long wielding that hammer. I never let it out of my sight, sometimes I would even fall into recharge clutching it in my hands. It was a part of me, my tool to build and create wondrous things. It was like an extension of my very spark. One of the hardest things since being on this ship was being so close to it, and not even being able to touch it, to hold it again. Now I have a body, or am borrowing one, and, I wonder…"

Optimus walked over and picked up the hammer, it was still fairly heavy. He walked over to her and held it out. She reached for it slowly, anxiously. She took it in her hands, practically dropping it. Arcees body was weaker than her original one. She struggled with it for a few seconds; optimus was ready to help her if she needed it. She finally managed to hoist it up. She held it tenderly, sliding her hands along the handle, feeling every detail. A light smile came across her face, a look of pure serenity. She leaned her head down and rested it against its end.

"I missed you so much" she whispered

Optimus felt happy for her but a little awkward as well.

"if you wish to hold on to it, that is your right. It is, and always shall be, yours"

No, no, for some reason, it just doesn't feel right. Thank you, thank you optimus"

She handed the forge back to him and left the room quietly. Optimus felt so bad for her yet knew that there was nothing he could do. He slipped back into his chair and drifted off into recharge. His mind drifted off and began to replay memories from his final battle with megatron. The brutality he showed that day scared him so much. He always worried that the blood lust may take him gain. He was woken by them, shaken by the memory, and fought to try to slip into a peaceful recharge.

Speeding across the void, lockdown's ship sailed with purpose like it had never had before. Within, megatron fumed in a makeshift throne in one of the ships many holds. He mused over everything waspinator had told him.

"so, Cybertron is in danger, its core is dying, and optimus is searching for the 13 to prevent this. Which means, if I wish to protect my dear cybertron, I must either allow him to succeed and…"

He groaned in annoyance.

"WAIT to destroy him, OR, destroy him now while he is at his most vulnerable, and perhaps take up his quest myself. Yes, taking the matrix, finding the lost members of the 13 and saving cybertron, I would be a hero, all of cybertron would bow at my feet"

"ourzzzezzz feet toozzz?" Waspinator asked from side

"yeeeees, my friend, you are all welcome to share in that glory!"

He addressed the other decepticons in the room. Only a few had answered his call to arms so far, but they were a decent enough battle group to engage optimus primes autobots. First there was Cyclonus, a cold and distant bot. He fancied his energy swords in battle but had no reservations about using guns; he was a merciless killer. He was disconnected from most bots but was always a loyal decepticon. Megatron was also glad to have Sixshot, the one-robot-army, return to his command. He was a massive and destructive warrior and the only cybertronian to have six alternate modes. He had multiple weapons, firearms and close combat, for normal battle while every one of his other modes was made to cause even more destruction. Demolishor and snowcat were two decepticons thugs that had served under megatron before. They had never stood out to him too much other than for their lack of seriousness and tendency towards jokes. Demolishor did have a bit of a knack for strategy, while snowcat was a decent warrior; more of a berserker, charging the battle field, cackling and yodeling, with weapons firing in all directions. Then there was Knockout; a vain and self-centered bot. Though he was technically a medic, he had no great proficiency in the field. Finally there was slipstream, a sharp tongued seeker femme. Possibly one of the best among the decepticon ranks, she was once part of starscreams air forces. Her sarcastic personality could be overlooked due to her battle skills and quick wit. This new decepticon squad would be the tools of his vengeance and victory. Megatron made his way to the bridge where lockdown was setting a new course.

"what is the meaning of this bounty hunter, where are you taking us?"

"to the autobots, of course"

"you now their location!?"

"no, but I know where they will be heading, and we will beat them there"

"how do you know their heading?"

"because there is something there that they seek"

"lockdown, sideways incoming" came a snarky voice over the comm

"aaaah, perfect"

"expecting company are we?"

"just a friend delivering payment from a client" lockdown announced as he left for the docking bay

Down in the bay, a small ship arrives. Its pilot comes out and shakes hands with lockdown; he is a black and orange bot with a horned head and a mostly featureless, clear face. His parts suggest that he transformed into some sort of jet.

"hey there Capt. Hook, how's the biz been treatin ya"

"very well, this last transaction was definitely a mile stone"

"slag yeah, say, how did you get that info for the big max…"

Sideways was cut off by the sound of megatron, flanked by cyclonus and sixshot, entering the room. Lockdown elbowed sideways in the midsection as a sign to drop the subject.

"hey guys, what's up?" sideways said with fake friendliness

Megatron simply glared at the pair.

"ah, you mind if your boys there unload the precious cargo and put it in my special vault, mighty megatron?"

Megatron nodded and the decepticons went on to the task.

"much obliged" sideways nodded

Megatron noticed the powerful energy core as his troops moved it.

"well, what did you do to earn a prize like that?"

"oh, just passed some delicate information on to a very interested party"

"which was?"

"confidential"

Uncomfortable with the decepticons, especially megatron, sideways quickly bid farewell to lockdown and left, making his way back to his even mightier master.

"lockdown" slipstream called from the bridge

"what?"

"we have arrived"

"perfect" he smiled

"yeeeeeessss" megatron hissed

After taking a few days to get there, the autobots finally arrived at the Scion galaxy. Alpha trions notes said to look for a ruined planet and it wasn't hard to find. In the midst of an asteroid field, the broken remains of the planet, laid a large chunk of said planet; about a 5th of its original mass, floating in the center of the debris.

"prime, I'm getting a weird energy signature on that large chunk of the planet. It might be just the prime we're looking for" star saber reported

"Prima…" optimus said lowly

"aaah, optimus, this debris field is kinda thick, I don't know how far in we're gonna get"

"go as far as you can jetfire, we will take the shuttle the rest of the way"

"aye aye"

They managed their way through most of the asteroid field until it got too cluttered with large chunks.

"Right; perceptor, brains, silverbolt, jetfire, and mirage, remain on board; everyone else, be in the shuttle bay in 5 minutes."

Optimus started off the bridge when his view was suddenly blocked by the large annoying grin of Maccadam.

"mind if I accompany you optimus prime?"

"no"

"no, you don't mind, well good becau…"

"no, you are not coming with us"

"aww, come now dear optimus"

"that is my order, you have been more than a handful as of late and I do not want your antics, or comments, offending possibly the greatest cybertronian who ever lived"

Optimus then left down the hall for his quarters.

"Greatest who ever lived, eh, not quite what I was thinking optimus. There are a few more promising ones, and one who always stood out among even the brightest" Maccadam said to himself as he watched optimus walk away

The autobots were all gathered at the shuttle, waiting for optimus, who wasn't present for some reason. Finally he arrived, carrying the star saber sword itself, as delicate as one would handle a wounded turbofox. The autobots made way for him to enter the shuttle first, all admiring the sword as he passed. Optimus smiled to arcee, and solus smiled back at him; this was a moment they both had been eagerly waiting for.

"I'm named in honor of that, man, I have never felt such pride, and ego, I admit" an uncharacteristic star saber thought aloud

"jetfire, we will activate the sky spy and bring it with us so that you can watch our progress as well" optimus said through his comm

"sounds good prime"

The shuttle made its way through the asteroid field with relative ease. Once arriving, they traced the source of the energy and decided to land about half a mile away. As they exited the shuttle, optimus turned to star saber.

"Commander Star Saber , for your great service to the autobots and to this quest, would you do the honor of carrying your namesake to its destination.

"optimus…I would be honored"

Star saber carried the sword and handled it with as much care as optimus did, which was a bit difficult because it was a bit bigger than a normal sword. The autobots made their way in the right direction until they came to a ramshackle building, a building whose walls and ceiling had long since crumbled away. There was little reason to use the broken door as they could simply walk through the sides. Before them, sitting on some sort of stone seat, hidden in the shadows by the debris, was the one they sought, Prima, leader of the 13, the warrior of light. However, what they saw was far from what they expected. Before them sat a dark, brooding knight; his armor black, cracked and rusted. An aura of darkness surrounded him which made all the autobots' sparks grow cold.

"Prima?" optimus spoke up, his voice cracking a bit

The knights head rose and two bright red eyes glared at them.

"prima, prima, is that you?" solus asked

"I am prima, the fallen prime"

"what?"

"prima, we seek you and the 13 to save primus, to save cybertron. You must return, you must help!" optimus argued

"why should I help you, servant of primus?" he growled

"prima, what has happened to you?" solus gasped

"by coming here, all you seek…is death" prima sneered

"Indeed!" came another voice

From behind a nearby boulder, lockdown appeared.

"lockdown, what the…" ironhide strated

Suddenly, from surrounding hiding places, the decepticons appeared; the whole group was there save for knockout, who was left to guard the ship. Optimus was most shocked to see megatron, who strolled right up to his rival.

"megatron…"

"hello optimus" megatron grinned a toothy grin

"you're here, why, how…"

Megatrons fist suddenly came up and nailed optimus square in the face; Optimus fell backwards to the ground, hard.

"decepticons, destroy them, destroy them all!" megatron roared

He pounced on optimus, who was ready and a fearsome fist fight erupted between the two leaders. The other autobots and decepticons were quick to battle. Star saber, still carrying primas sword, was forced to draw his own blade and, along with drift, fend off cyclonus. Override and solus decided to double team lockdown, with few results. Bulkhead and ratchet exchanged fire with demolishor and snowcat while avoiding air attacks from slipstream. Waspinator would have joined in with her, but had already been blasted multiple times. He lay in the dirt in multiple pieces, but still online and hoping to avoid being stepped on. Jazz, bumblebee and ironhide were doing their best to take on sixshot. Whenever they would get the upper hand, he would change into one of his other modes and take back the advantage. The other autobots on the "Hand" were forced to watch helplessly by means of the sky-spy.

"we can't just sit here and do nothing. We have to help them" jetfire jumped up

"jetfire, we can't bring the ship any further into the asteroid field without causing severe damage to it. Also, we have no other shuttle and no means of getting to them in time" Preceptor argued

"maybe you don't, but we do" jetfire yanked silverbolt from his chair and started pulling him towards the door and off the bridge.

"lets fly"

"oh dear" preceptor says as he looks back towards the video screen.

Even the normally happy Maccadam had a worried look. This was not a good situation. Jetfire and silverbolts jet forms gets them through the planet debris with ease and they descend on the raging battle. Silverbolt descends on sixshot and fires on the super soldier, weakening him for his comrades. Jetfire, manages to get slipstream attention and draws her into an aerial dogfight. All the while, the dark prime they had come searching for simply sits back in his seat, watching and relishing the carnage.

Optimus and Megatron were still laying into each other with everything they had, both realizing how similar this battle is to their last one. After a hard punch to the gut, optimus, severely weakened, drops to one knee. Megatron walks up and stands over him; he draws his cannon and holds it over his nemesis.

"oh, I would have waited an eternity for this, it's over prime"

Optimus suddenly pushes the cannon aside, rises and delivers a devastating uppercut to his enemy.

"NEVER!" optimus shouts

The power of the attack, coupled with his already present head wound, is enough to take megatron out of the fight. He falls to the ground, barely conscious, and defeated, again. It was at this moment that prima raised his stiff hand, and from it, a blast of fire and dark energy shot from his fingertips. The blast headed right for optimus and struck him dead on. The fiery blast was so strong that it knocked all those present of their feet. Meagtron leans up in shock, worried that his nemesis has been slain by someone elses hand. As the smoke clears, all those assembled stand up again and to their shock, a damaged but functional optimus walks from the smoke. Megatron sees a fire in optimus' eyes that he had never seen before. Optimus now knew something, and he planned to act on it. Megatron stayed where he was on the ground while the other autobots and decepticons, fixated, moved closer and converged into a group not far behind optimus; they were barely interested if they were standing next to an ally or an enemy. Optimus then spoke up, proud and loudly…

"PRIMA! 1st son of Primus, leader of the 13 primes, warrior of light. You have been infected, bewitched, corrupted. To long have you sat in the shadows. I shall release you from this darkness"

Suddenly a horrid sound began to emanate from prima, which quickly turned into demonic sounding laughter of amusement.

"you have no power here, disciple of primus" he mocked

Optimus suddenly tensed his body, clutched his fists and flung them to his sides. Suddenly the metal of his chest separated away and opened to reveal a burst of pure, magnificent light that shown forth. The light was so brilliant that those present, and even those who were watching from a distance, were nearly blinded. It even lit up the void of space around them. It was the matrix of leadership, part of primus himself. The waves of light shined upon everyone present and they all looked on in awe, even megatron. Exposure to the light of the matrix caused Prima to flail and jerk in his seat. He squirmed as the light shined upon him and he glared back at Optimus.

"I shall draw the darkness from you as poison is drawn from a wound" optimus decrees loudly

Prima continued to attempt to struggle, growling in a foreign voice. Concerned for her brother, solus instinctively moves forward to help him but is stopped by ratchet.

"wait" he cautions

"IF I GO, PRIMA DIES!" the prime growls in a voice that is CLEARLY not his own

"you could not kill me, you will not kill him!" optimus says as he takes a few steps closer

"THE UNIVERSE IS MINE" the strange voice growls

Drawing on the last of his strength, prima lunges at optiums, who channels a pure blast of light from the matrix right into primas spark. Primas body falls back, limp. All the darkness and damage and rust from primas body is gone, but rather than simply disappearing, it has evaporated from the prime as a shadowy cloud that suddenly takes shape. It is a black, evil looking bot with large upturned wings and a plated, emotionless face. It glares down at optimus.

"you dare!" it snarls

However, the light of the matrix is clearly keeping it at bay.

"you have made the mistake of crossing the herald of chaos, and you shall die for it Optimus Prime!" the entity yells before simply vanishing

Prima himself groans and begins to fall over. Solus breaks from ratchets grip and goes to his side to hold him up. Before the autobots eyes, primas body begins to turn the silver, white it should be. His eyes turn bright blue and his body begins to glow with the power of the primes again. Optimus sighs a breath of relief and closes his chest plate. While the autobots have all been focused on this, the decepticon have slipped away, putting just a bit of distance between them and the autobots, mainly the ancient prime. Megatron himself, who is carrying waspinators broken body, is still mesmerized by the events. Prima, finally clear of mind, looks up at his savior.

"optimus"

He is suddenly drawn by his arm being squeezed. He is met by two bright blue eyes welling up with energon tears.

"prima"

"I know your voice"

"yes brother"

"solus, is it really you?"

"yes!" she cries as she hugs him, and he hugs her back, smiling

"optimus?" prima says again as he looks at the prime

"shhhhhh" solus whispers into his ear.

He appears to understand her meaning.

"breath the free air again my friend" optimus smiles

With his sisters help, prima manages to stand up.

"dark have been my dreams of late"

Prima still seemed a bit disoriented; he holds up his hand and flexes his fingers.

"perhaps your fingers would remember their old strength better, if they held YOUR sword"

Star saber then stepped forward and kneels before the prime, holding the ancient sword up for him. Slowly, prima grabs the handle of the star saber, his weapon of the ages. He tightens his grip on it then suddenly thrust it skyward in a show of his returned strength. The blade, and the prime himself, began to glow bright and brilliant. Optimus humbly lowered himself onto one knee and bowed to his ancient predecessor and the other autobots gladly did the same.

"rise, all of you, there is no need to bow. The bravery you have all shown; you are all worthy of being primes" prima announced

"prima, you are needed on cybertron" optimus spoke up

"yes, I know, the matrix has shown me, helped me see what I have missed. It has also shown how much of a fool I was. Such a coward to run and hide in disgrace. I know now that my brothers betrayal was not my own, and I have finally come to piece with that."

"oh prima, thank the allspark you're back"

"Destroy them!" Megatrons voice suddenly rang

From a short distance away, the decepticons began to fire on the autobots. Frustrated with the sudden disturbance, prima marched to the head of the group and held the star saber high. The blade began to glow as he began to swirl it in the air. Knowing something bad was about to happen, a fearful megatron retreated and his troops followed sweet. Prima then took one mighty lunge forward and slashed the saber in front of him. From the blade, a huge wave of energy was generated and cast across the land. The wave struck near the deceptcons and flung the lot of them up into the void were they bounced and slammed among the various asteroids.

"curse you optimus, curse all the primes!" megatron howled as he floated away.

Prima walked back, casually passing all the awestruck autobots back to optimus.

"now optimus, I believe you are on a very important quest, and it would be very wrong of me to impede it. So, I shall be on my way back to cybertron, back…home."

Prima then reached out his hand for optimus to shake. Optimus was honored by the gesture and accepted it. He then handed prima one of the space bridge orbs. Prima gave one last smile to his sister before stepping back and holding the orb up.

"goodbye and thank you all. Good luck; I look forward to you sending my brothers to join me" he said as he clutched the orb

"till all are one!" Prima shouted as the space bridge activating and teleported him away

"oh slag!" ironhide grunted

"what is it ironhide?"

"we didn't find out what that shadow bot that was inside him was!"

Optimus clenched his hands; In all the excitement he hand forgotten about that thing. He should have found out what it was from prima before he left. How could he have been so careless and forget something so significant.

"no, but whatever it was, I feel like we will see it again" solus added

"yes. autobots, lets roll out!" optimus said

On the "Hand" the autobots aboard all breathe a sigh of relief. They start talking amongst themselves about what happened.

"man that was just amazing. I am so glad we were recording that footage. I just want to watch it over and over" mirage squealed

"yeah, I'm making a copy for myself, bet the others will want one too. I bet I could sell some when we get back home" brains grinned

"indeed, it was a most impressive sight. That footage will definitely be added to the history files in the hall of records" preceptor adds

Unseen by them, Maccadam, wearing a very content smile, strolls out of the room. However, the events this day have been viewed by another. Hidden in the asteroid field , as ship has been watching and recording these events. Sideways presses a button and transmits the video file data. If he had a mouth, he would be smiling.

"the boss is just going to looooove this, hehehe"


	7. Chapter 7

Optimus tried to relax and think in his quarters. The recent events had been quite taxing, not only on himself, but on all of the autobots. The discovery of the dark being that possessed Prima calling itself "Logos Prime" was very troubling. It was factor that could greatly complicate their quest to save cybertron. He pushed the thought to the back of him mind, for now. He knew that the best way to remedy the situation was to push on and seek out the remaining members of the 13 as quickly as possible. He was making his way to the bridge when he was suddenly struck by someone passing by him. It was mirage, who was laughing hysterically; it was an odd think to see him doing. Optimus went to call out to him to ask what his hurry was but he already rounded a corner. Suddenly optimus heard a commotion behind him.

"come back here you turbo revving young punk!" yelled ironhide

A very angry ratchet and ironhide came up the hallway.

"what's the problem?"

"where is he, where is that little slag heap?" ironhide growled

"why, what did mirage do?"

"he drank a whole bottle of refined, high grade energon I had in my quarters!" ratchet said

"high grade energon, what is that doing on this ship, why would you of all bots have that?"

Optimus tried to come off as serious but he was mostly being sarcastic, trying to embarrass his old friends.

"oh, well, I…I had it just for special occasions. I mentioned it to ironhide and, with the success our journey has had so far we thought me might share a toast" ratchet explained nervously

"or two" ironhide added

Ratchet gave ironhide the stink eye, who just shrugged in response.

"what, it's just optimus" ironhide argued

Optimus sighed and led the two down the hall to where he saw mirage go. The corner he turned lead to only one room, a storage room. As they entered, expecting to find mirage, they eccept found Maccadam, boredly bouncing a ball of a wall.

"help you with something sirs?" he asked

"where is mirage?"

"don't know, haven't seen him"

"I saw him come this way, and this is the only room in this part of the hallway"

"sorry optimus can't help ya, maybe he cloaked and went another way or something" he smiled

"that's it, he must have slipped by us. Let's head back to perceptors lab and get the thermal detector, he won't be able to hide from that" ironhide said

He and ratchet then left the room. Optimus was about to follow but turned back to look at Maccadam again, who was wearing very eerie grin. Optimus glared at the bot for a few more moment before leaving. There was something about Maccadam that optimus had found off, or rather off-putting, lately. There had also been a lot of issues and misunderstanding among the crew as of late like this one with mirage. Members of the crew being accused of doing things they claimed not to have done; strange occurrences throughout the ship. Optimus knew that Maccadam had something to do with it all.

"optimus to ratchet" optimus said over his wrist comm

"what is it optimus?"

"I want you and ironhide to leave mirage be"

"what, but optimus!?"

"ratchet please, let it go for now. I will sort it out soon, understood"

"very well optimus. Ironhide, put the energon prod back, opt…"

optimus cut the comm and made his way to the bridge. He arrived on the bridge and observed the autobots on duty; Jetfire and star saber were in the pilot and copilot seats, override and bulkhead on the scanners and…

"mirage?" optimus said confused

Mirage turned from his seat at the weapons station.

"how did you get here so quick?"

"what are you talking about optimus, I've been in duty for the past hour"

Optimus groaned, things just got more and more difficult each day of their journey

"nevermind, for now, we will sort this out later. Autobots, at your posts, I will now read the next of alpha trions notes and coordinates"

"go for it prime" jetfire smiled

Optimus chose not broadcast the reading over the comms. Solus was in arcee and so not presently with him and he was glad for it. The next of the 13 they would be searching for was Nexus Prime, and he recalled mention of some kind of romance between the two. He thought that perhaps hearing the entry may upset the female prime. Optimus opened the book and read aloud to the present autobots.

_"Nexus Prime was one of the mightiest, and largest, of our brotherhood. He was the first, and greatest, of cybertrons combiners, and was known as the "wizard of forms". Though his overall appearance may stay the same, his body was a constantly shifting mass of parts. Change and mutability were what defined his very being. Powerful, proud, and frequently unpredictable even to those who knew him best; Nexus Prime was also full of good humor. Like our brotherAmalgamous, he was fun loving and a lighthearted prankster, though personally I can never recall laughing at one of his jokes. When our brotherhood was at its peak and we developed our own little community, he was the guardian of Rarified Energon stores. Nexus was fascinated by changing states of matter and the creation of new elements in solar forges. This shared affinity for creation lead Solus Prime to have special, and quite possibly romantic, feelings for Nexus, which in turn seems to have earned him the enmity of the ever scornful Fallen and Liege Maximo._

_Nexus' power was the Enigma of Combination, sometimes known as the Spark of Combination, which gave him the ability to merge together any robots into new combined forms at will. However, the ability was mainly personified within himself, as he had the ability to separate his body and mind into five separate individual bots. When our wicked brother killed Solus in an act of rage, nexus was the one who took her death the hardest. After the fallen had been defeated, we built a tomb for solus' body on a spectacular comet. Nexus took many of solus' creation and stood a mournful watch over her resting place. Eventually he split into his separate individual forms and they split across the cosmos._

_I am sorry Optimus but I am not sure if they are still separateor united again, which makes your task much harder. All I know is that the location of solus primes crypt would be the place to start looking for clues. It is imperative that you find nexus, for without him, you will not be able to find Vector Prime, as each of nexus' separate components carries one of the five Blades of Time, which are needed to reach vector. God speed autobots."_

Optimus showed jetfire the given coordinates to the crypt and they plotted the course.

"well, that's just peachy isn't it" bulkhead crumbled

"what?" override asked

"a search for on bot just turned into a search for five, and we don't even know where they are!"

"we know where they were, and that is a start" optimus said.

"riiiight"

"autobots, as you were. Captain, alert me when we are close"

"yes sir" star saber answered

Optimus was met in the hallway by arcee. He could tell by the way she smiled at him that is was really solus.

"optimus" she greeted

"solus…I should tell you, that the next of the 13 that we are searching for is nexus prime"

Solus looked as if in deep thought and nodded in understanding.

"I know that you may…"

"oh no, please optimus, there is no need. I knew that we would reach this point sooner or later. This quest is just as much about facing our demons as it is about saving cybertron. You have already been forced to fight one of yours"

"megatron"

"yes, and I sense you may be forced to face him again"

After some time the "hand" reached the provided coordinates. Sure enough a "dead' comet sat alone in the emptiness of the void. A small structure, the crypt, could be seen a ways away from their landing site. Optimus departed for the crypt in vehicle mode along with solus, ratchet, bumblebee, jazz, silverbolt and override. Soon they came upon the tomb. It was not great in size but was magnificent in appearance. A statue in the image of solus prime herself stood over its door. Optimus turned to look at solus who looked at the image of her true self with a far off look. He knew this task would affect her, but to stare upon one's own resting place; even the wisdom the matrix bestows could not help optimus to understand how she was feeling. They slowly approached when they were suddenly showered with laser fire. They backed off as their assailants appeared from various hiding places. Five bots appeared; they all stood taller than optimus and varying degrees of mismatched red and blue armor.

"you dare trespass on this sacred place" one shouted

"we mean no disrespect to the one buried here, but we were sent here on a very important mission"

"wait a minute" solus said to herself as she studied the enemies

"well none will stop my mission to guard this place!" the five bots said in a single voice.

Before the autobots' eyes, the five bots came together and combined into one form. Cybertron had seen combiners before, but never like this one; so ancient and embodying the power of its mighty form. The shifting and transforming of 5 forms into 1 was astounding. The massive form that now stood before them was as alpha trion described; A large greyish black bot with overlying blue and red armor. Due to being the sum of different parts, his armor held an overall pattern but was still uneven and irregular in places.

"I am nexus prime, and guarding this place is my duty!" he said

"nexus prime?" optimus said awestruck

"see, even back in the day, they rocked the visors" jazz smiled and nudged bee while pointing at the visor that sat over, or possibly served as, nexus' eyes.

"Intruding on this place is not our intent mighty prime, we came in search of you yourself"

"then what is your intent?"

"to bring our family home nexus!" solus spoke up

"that voice,who said that!?" he demanded

"I did" arcee stepped forward

Nexus turned to the unfamiliar fembot and glared for a moment, then his gaze softened, though he still stared intently then finally, he was able to see past arcees physical form and see the spirit within, the form of Solus.

"by primus!" nexus' voice cracked as he fell to his knees

"sister, my dear solus, is it truly you?"

"it is brother, my dear nexus " she smiled

Nexus reached out his large hand and brushed it against her cheek , still is disbelief at her return. He then leaned his head down to hers and touched his forehead to hers. The autobots remained silent, respecting the reunion. Nexus was so happy, when the silence was suddenly broken by an unfamiliar voice.

"uh, what…what's going on?" arcee spoke up

Nexus pulled away and looked at her in confusion.

"uh, solus?" he asked

"no, arcee. Sorry, she seems to of, uuuuuh, left the building"

"actually, she seems to be entering the building" Optimus said as he pointed to the sealed door of the crypt.

He and nexus alone could see solus' spirit standing before and she glimpsed back towards them before passing right through it. They paused for a second then nexus moved to follow when he felt the light but firm grip of Optimus' hand on his arm. He knew Optimus was telling him to let her be for now; this was something more personal than any of them could ever realize and that she had to face it herself. Nexus understood, but still had to fight the urge to follow her. In the time that they had, Optimus began explaining the situation to Nexus Prime. Inside the tomb, solus slowly walked to where her coffin lay; in the center of a beautifully crafted room with statues of her brothers surrounding it. She stopped and looked down at the coffin, knowing that she was not capable, physically or emotionally, of opening it. She imagined that she had been lain in it quite peacefully as possibly but that the results of death and time had undoubtedly left their marks. She imagined her black lifless eyes, her now lightless hair, the wounds and destruction to her body that brought about her end; even rust would have settled in. As strong as she always tried to be, the image in her mind robbed her of all that an she stifled a whimper and a trembling lip. She then spoke softly, she was thinking out loud but also, in a moment of unhinged greif, to her own corpse.

"we thought so highly of ourselves back then. We saw ourselves as gods, as vessels to carry light throughout the universe. We thought we were special. We thought we were better; thought we were immortal. We thought wrong. We were arrogant. All we have done is spread more chaos through the universe. Was that our legacy, was it always meant to be? Was my death what simply the last crack that shattered a once great purpose?"

She rested her hand on the coffin and held her head high.

"well guess what, I have been given something no one else has, a second chance at life, and I swear by primus, im going to use it right. I will see our duty done"

Outside, the autobots had headed back to their ship while optimus and nexus spoke while waiting for solus.

"what do you mean your brother!?" optimus practically shouted

"yes, optimus, our brother is named optimus prime"

"but, I have never heard of any of the 13 who…wait, you mean the 13th prime?"

"yes, our youngest brother, how could you of all people not know his name?"

"no one has, no one ever has, he has always been called, well, the 13th prime!"

"so strange I mean you are clearly not him…"

"I think" nexus then thought to himself

"…but you are clearly named after him and are even built in his image. I thoght that that was on purpose, to y'know, honor him. So strange of alpha trion to have not told you about that, but that's our older brother, always having bigger plans haha"

Solus had just exited the crypt when she picked up on their conversation.

"and more so, that solus would not have brought it up" nexus said confused

"yes, well…" optimus started

Solus quickly cleared her nonexistent throat to get their attention and they both jumped up and went to her, worried about how her time in her own burial place had affected her.

"do not fret I am fine, I simply had some time for…reflection"

"it's good to know that being killed didnt leave to serious of a mark on your spirit" nexus teased

"ah, the jokes, i had forgot about them" she teased back

"huh, y'know what, that may well have been my first joke in, well, centuries. I had forgotten how funny I was"

Solus merely smiled and shook her head.

"so nexus, I have the means for you to return to cybertron, but first I must ask for the Blades of Time"

"the blades of…OH YEAH, I had forgot about those, I carry so many things in this body of mine"

Nexus' body suddenly shattered and reformed into his five smaller components. From the inner structure of their bodies they each extracted a glowing gold dagger. Nexus then reassembled into his whole form.

"here you are optimus, the blades of time, with which you will be able to gain access to Vector primes' private little hideaway dimension"

"hideaway dimension?"

"yes, a place he had created as a sanctuary for himself to kinda get away from all the…annoyingness of the universe"

"I see"

"Im sure alpha trions notes will give you more insight optimus" solus adds

"yes, you are probably right solus"

"oh optimus, I have a gift for you, since you may need it"

Nexus then extracted a sword from his inner structure like his smaller selves had with the blades of time, though this one was much larger and it was a mystery how it had been in there.

"this, optimus, is the Cyber Calibur, one of the many swords solus had made for me"

"I could not take your weapon…"

"nonsense optimus, you need it more. Besides, I've got plenty of things hidden in the rubix cube of a body" he smiled

"speaking of your body nexus, we were glad to find all its parts in one place"

"well, to be honest, for a very long time they weren't. I had split apart and my fragments had scattered to the corners of the galaxy and forgotten who they were, who I was and my consciousness faded. It was in fact Vector who reunited us, and that is when I decided to find a worthy duty and came here."

"well, I shall have to thank him for that" optimus said

Optimus noticed nexus and solus looking at each other meaningfully and decided to let them say goodbye.

"well nexus prime, it was a pleasure to meet you, and I thank you and wish you well. You have the space bridge orb to get back to I bid you fare well. Solus, I will take the blades of time and head back to the ship, I will see you back there soon. Solus looked to optimus after understanding what he was saying and doing but he had already transformed and was driving away.

Nexus and solus simply smiled happily at each other for a while. He reached to hold her hand even though it wasn't actually there.

"was love truly what we shared solus?"

"I don't know Nex, I just don't know. It has been so long, so many things have changed and I don't know much of anything that was or is anymore."

I…I see, so…what then?"

"Just know this my brother, what we have may not be the same or be definable in this age, but our sparks were always close to each other, that is all that really matters" she smiled

She placed her hand on his cheek like he had hers.

"that is all I ever wanted" he smiled

After a few more moments he finally gained the strength to look away from her eyes to activate the bridge org. After a silent farewell he vanished. She stood there, alone and outside of her own crypt in silence for a while before willingly evaporating and returning her essence into the matrix.


	8. Chapter 8

The autobots had all returned to the "Hand" but kept the ship stationed on the dead comet.

"what's up optimus" jazz asked

"jazz, inform the crew that we will remain here for a brief R&amp;R period" optimus said

"oh well, alright cool optimus, will do"

After jazz left his quarters optimus sat back in his chair. He would never let his autobots see it, but he was sad. They had just returned from finding Nexus Prime and seeing how important he and solus were to each other. Seeing them had reawakened memories from optimus' own past; from way back when he was Orion Pax; of his own lost love. He remembered how back then he worked at the hall of records under Alpha Trion, but due to the difficulties of the economy at the time, he was forced to take a second job in the energon warehouse district. There he met Ariel, a passionate and strong willed fembot. They became quick friends and soon more. The two had become romantic companions and remained so even after he was rebuilt and became the new autobot leader. She was likewise rebuilt into a strong amazon-like warrior and took the name Elita-One. Though their feelings for each other were no secret, the depths of them were, as they had in secret become spark mates. This made it all the harder when Elita chose to leave cybertron part way through the war. While she was a great warrior, she believed that the autobots should seek out new opportunities and frontiers, which could in turn aid them against the decepticons. She gathered an elite team of female soldiers and left cybertron and was never heard from again. The day she left, a piece of Optimus…of Orions spark died, and today, that part has started to hurt again.

"are you alright optimus?"

Solus primes spirit suddenly materialized in the room.

"yes solus, just…thiking about the past"

"yes, I have been doing the same a lot lately"

"well, while we have some time, perhaps we should read alpha trions next entry to know what awaits us"

Solus nodded and optimus opened the journal.

"_Vector Prime is the master of Time and space, and that is no metaphor or understatement. He was the 2__nd__ of us created after Prima, and as such he often served as Primas right hand bot. Like prima he was very stoic and serious and had a very narrow view of the universe, at least at first. He had an unsurpassed sense of balance and order. It was his job to watch over the order of time and space and protect it from and threats that would disrupt it, from paradoxes to events or actions that could rip the fabric of the universe apart. He held power over time itself and could travel, not only between time and space, but also between alternate realities as well, though now such acts would put extreme strain on his ancient body. It was his exploration of the universe that was what caused his heart to soften and his compassion for others beings to blossom. For some time after his creation his armor was gold and brightly glowed as such but, like his own close-mindedness, the glow faded, and it reflected in his armor as it took on new magnificent color patterns. Unfortunately, his heart would harden again, not at just at the betrayal of the fallen and the death of solus, but the revelation that our brother Liege Maximo had been secretly conspiring against us, and had been mechanizing a great scheme to further his own power. Disheartened, Vector left cybertron and sealed himself in his own private dimension, his sanctuary which sat outside the normal boundaries of space and time, from which he could continue his duty in solitude. Though he has reentered the time stream on occasion to protect it from large-scale dangers, his long exile has left him greatly disconnected from not only our race, but other forms of life as well. The only way to access his sanctuary is with the blades of time, the artifacts which he used to create it as well as influence the cosmos. Hopefully you have retrieved them from Nexus prime and will be able to convince Vector Prime to return to his true Home"_

"I suppose we should prepare to…"

"optimus, the blades of time do not work like you might think. They do not create a space bridge or anything that your ship would be able to pass through. Rather, they create a sort of doorway, through which only one may pass"

"I see, so, your saying that this is a task I must do alone"

"Sometimes, being a prime means you must be alone"

Optimus nodded in deep thought then looked up to see solus smiling.

"however optimus, we are something that no one else is, we are two in one"

"ah, I see what you mean solus, we both will be capable of going, well then, let us waste not more time"

Optimus made a quick call to star saber to let him know of the situation and ordered that he not be disturbed. He then retrieved the blades of time from the table in his room. Solus returned into the matrix as optimus activated the blades, they began to levitate and rotate in the air, spinning faster and faster until a portal was generate in the middle of them. Optimus stared into the black vortex, admittedly a bit afraid. He could suddenly hear solus voice in his head.

"It's alright optimus, I'm right here with you"

After taking a deep breath optimus stepped forward and entered the portal. He suddenly stumbled into a dark, unfamiliar environment. Solus then reappeared and they looked around the new area. They were surrounded by large rotating cogs and gears. Optimus realized that this strange dimension looked like the inner working of a clock, or more accurately, a clock tower, since up ahead he could see what appeared to be a giant clock face. As they started walking towards it the portal closed and the blades of time levitated and followed them. As they got closer, they could see a figure standing on a floor of haze looking up at the clock face and soon realized that the clock face was some form of window, which was fluctuating and showing multiple events and points in time constantly appearing and disappearing. Suddenly the figure spoke and his voice rang all around them.

"you two are late" he said without turning around

"you would say that vector" solus spoke up

Vector prime turned around. He was indeed an ancient looking bot, gears and clockwork could be seen as part of his very body. His armor was silverfish and metallic pink with golden trim. His face displayed age and wisdom, though not quite as much as alpha trions. However, he wore a saddened, disconected look on his face.

"I was expecting you here 22.2 seconds earlier, you lingered. Such is the effect mortal beings have on the flow of the universe. I see you have returned my old friend to me"

He reached out his hand and the five blades of time flew to him. The five suddenly came together and fused into one long sword with a glowing blue blade.

"Behold, Rhisling, finally in the hand of its true master again!"

"brother, you see all through the fabric of the universe, you know why we are here"

"yes, sister, I do" he said as he sheathed his sword

"and of course you will come back..."

"come back to what solus, a broken brotherhood of betrayal and disharmony. No, there is no going back for me...for any of us. Even I cannot reverse time for our family"

"so you would abandon us, abandon cybertron, abandon Primus to oblivion so that you can hide away here from all…"

"all pain, all destruction, strife, hatred and darkness!"

"as well as all the good and happiness and hope and things that make life worth living"

Vector prime tensed and wanted to retort to his sister but found he didn't have the words with which to do it. He then glanced toward optimus and his sight lingered on him.

"optimus prime. I know you well, even if you dont remember me"

"remember?" optimus thought to himself

Vector turned away from them and stared back at the clock face window and said nothing for what seemed like hours. His eyes watched the different events of time, from the important to the small to the most unimpactful. With a wave of his hand an image of optimus and his autobots appeared, one from long ago when optimus had just become leader.

"as I said optimus, I've watched over you for a long time"

Vector looked at how all the autobots and even optimus were so happy, supportive and acted as more then soldiers, more like a family; like the 13 once did. He thought to himself, of all the things he had seen throughout the ages.

"from watching you and your autobots, I remembered something Optimus, something I had long forgotten. I understood the true value of time, for it is the bonds between us, between all beings, that give time its meaning"

"that is something I too have learned in my time with my autobo…with my friends" optimus replied

Vector prime turned back towards the two of them, his expression now much softer and a light smile upon it. It warmed Solus' spark to see him smile again.

"I have hidden here for so long; from life, death, time, from everything, and for some reason, I feared them. Every single thing in the cosmos has a fixed life. Galaxies, planets, humans, Transformers...I alone have stood outside the reach of time, watching, ever vigilant, as the millennium marched past. I have seen oceans rise, continents shift and mountains crumble. I have seen brother rise against brother, and the decimation it leaves behind. And always the great cycle continues, as new life rises from the ashes of destruction. Now after eons of watching, I too will once again become part of the cycle, starting a new life with purpose and meaning, and though that life might end, I know now that I, through my deeds and those I have impacted, will never die."

"no greater wisdom has ever been spoken mighty Vector Prime, your truly are the master of time"

"thank you optimus, and now I believe it is time you two got on your way"

"oh, but, I had not grabbed a space bridge orb to send you to cybertron"

"do no fret optimus, now that I hold Rhisling again, I can travel wherever and whenever I wish on my own. Besides, I would have to be mad to trust one of Quintus' mad inventions" he smiled

"will you return home now?" solus asked

"not quite yet sister, I have some other affairs to deal with first before I return, but I will return none-the-less"

Vector prime then drew his sword and slashed it through the air, creating a small portal that they could see led back to optimus' quarters on the "hand".

Solus waved to her brother and just as her and optimus turned to leave.

"wait, optimus, I have something for you" vector said

Vector walked up to him but rather than give him something, he leaned in close and whispered into his audio receptor.

"you will see her again soon, my brother"

Optimus froze and was in shock.

"Elita, what…"

"you will be together again, I promise you" vector whispered again

Vector smiled at the shocked optimus and rushed him through the portal before he could ask any other questions. Optimus was suddenly back in his room looking at solus. He quickly turned back to the portal but it then burst into light and evaporated away.

"what is it optimus?"

"nothing solus, I'm fine. I just need some rest. Could you please report to star saber and the others that we have returned and were successful"

"of course optimus, I just need to locate arcee. Hopefully she isn't doing anything important. If so maybe I can try and pop into Override, though I imagine she will put up more of a fight" solus smiled

She passed through the door to leave but glanced back briefly, wondering what Vector could have told optimus. After she was gone optimus fell into his chair, and was now in high spirits. If he had mouth he would be smiling. The news that he would be with elita-one again was perhaps the best news he had heard in a long time. He thought about when and how they would meet again what she had been doing for so long. The knowledge created a new fire in optimus to save his, their home. However, after a moment, that subsided and he was forced to push that knowledge to the back of his mind. A new issue had to be addressed, which was this new found connection between him and the 13th prime, between this other Optimus Prime. The other primes all seemed to notice it, and it seemed that Solus had been keeping them from saying anything. Optimus finally saw it now that it all made sense, but still couldn't understand why. What confused him more was why Alpha Trion had never mentioned any of it to him, why had he been named and build in the image of the real optimus prime. Optimus turned to see alpha trion journal on his recharge bed where he left it. He wondered if there was something alpha trion had written in there about the other optimus. He slowly reached for the journal but froze before he touched it.

"if alpha trion wanted me to know, he would have told me" optimus thought

He wanted so much to check and see if the truth was in there, he felt somewhat hurt that secrets, important ones, had been kept from him by his dear friend. He finally put his hand down and sat back in his chair and sighed.

"I will trust you my old friend, you have always helped and guided me and had my best interest at spark. If you believe I must either not know this information or discover it myself, I will do as you have advised, for now"

Optimus finally stood up and made for the door, deciding to go spend some time with the other autobots were doing, his conversation with Vector Prime having reminded him of how much his friends meant to him.


	9. Chapter 9

In deep space on Lockdowns ship, the Decepticons were still licking their wounds from thei recent battle with the autobots. However, the real injuries were sustained after Prima himself intervened. The decpeticons felt utterly humiliated; they were nothing compared to the power of the ancient prime. Megatron had isolated himself in a dark corner of the ships engine room, his hatred and anger fumed and burned like the engines themselves. He had destroyed many parts of the bounty hunters ship in mass fits of rage. He suddenly heard the sound of the door being opened.

"well you have got some way of showing gratitude" lockdown fumed

"away with you" megatron growled

"no, you know what, how about away with you"

Lockdown unveiled a blaster above his hook hand and leveled it with megatron.

"I went out of my way to give you this information and even help you and look what you have gotten me into. Look what you have done to my ship, to my trophies!"

Megatron suddenly swung his arm and swatted lockdown aside and into the wall. The sound of this had drawn the attention of the other decepticons who crammed to watch from the doorway.

"you know what megatron, you were a bad investment"

Megatron walked over to lockdown and before he could get up, he brought his foot down on the bounty hunters chest. He continued to apply pressure but stopped and lifted his foot, but only so he could grab lockdown by the throat and lift him up.

"look at you, you thought you could threaten me?"

"I don't have to, look at you, the great leader of the decepticons. One defeat and you are right back to sulking in a corner like you were when I found you"

"you go too far wretch"

Megatron was not happy that lockdown had said that in front of his troops.

"have no fear lord megatron, I had the brilliance to think a head while you were all…engaged in the previous battle. I sent a tracker which attached to the autobot ship. Brilliant idea from a superior soldier I think. You know I would do anything for the cause and seeing as I was denied the chance at battle I thought…"

Sick of hearing knockouts self-praise, megatron hurled lockdown into the vain medic and both were sent rolling across the floor. Neither took very kindly to the abuse.

"my paint job" knockout squealed

"decepticons, the autobots achieved a small victory, but we will be upon them again soon, and we will have our revenge!"

Half the galaxy away, the autobots were back on their quest. Optimus walked onto the bridge with the 13 journal so that they could get their new heading.

"well, we got 4 primes down, who next prime" jazz asked

"let us see" optimus answered as he opened to the journals next entry

"our next target is… Alchemist Prime"

Optimus then read the Primes biography aloud.

"Alchemist Prime was the elemental among us. He was also the most even-tempered and emotionally balanced one of us, which meant a lot in our family. He was much more mystical than the rest of us. He had very gentle but jovial personality. He regarded himself as a student of the natural world. While he was intelligent, he was more intuitive than strictly intellectual like Quintus. Both of his arms were infused with pure natural counter-energies which he always experimented with, from creating fire and ice to generating whole mirco-galaxies. This made him appear more as a magician than a knowledge seeker, though he was still a steadfast warrior in our days of battle. He was primarily aided in his pursuits by his Lenses, one-of-a-kind spectacle enhancements that allowed him to see further, or deeper, than anyone else in both the physical and spiritual realms. The two of us were very close and our scholarly attitudes led to many lively debates. However, the sting of betrayal still ran deep and like most of us, he had been morally compromised by the schism that broke us apart. While many of the other Primes dispersed across the universe after "the great betrayal", Alchemist remained on Cybertron for a time with me, and together we guided the development of early Cybertronian civilization. Once the process was well underway, Alchemist headed off into space to hunt down Liege Maximo and bring him to justice. Though I do not know if he succeeded, I do know that he has not perished in his task. The coordinates to the planet he took refuge on is written below."

Optimus showed silverbolt the coordinates and the autobots went to hyperspace.

"well, we do seem to be making superb time in our quest optimus" drift said

"we can only hope that cybertron core is faring as well, and that we complete our task in time"

As they made their way to their next destination, optimus made his way to the ships wreck room. Save for the ones they were currently on duty, the rest could be found there, either conversing or entertaining themselves in any number of waves. As optimus walked in star saber saluted him, but was the only one to do so. All the other autobots were close enough to optimus that much of ceremony and formality was unneeded. Optimus sat at the table along with ratchet, ironhide, star saber, jetfire and preceptor. He briefly glanced over to see arcee talking with jazz, and bumblebee. From the look of it it was actually her and not solus prime. He figured she was either still within the matrix or was wandering the ship.

"greetings optimus" preceptor smiled

"hey prime, you doing okay?" ironhide asked

"yes my friends, just tired. As you can imagine this search is quite taxing"

"it has been taxing on all of us prime, trust me" ironhide sighed

"but you're the one that should be the hardest to get to. You do seem a bit sluggish optimus, maybe you should come by the med bay for an examination"

"no, ratchet, I don't think that will necessary, I just…"

"I believe I have some substances that may help to optimize your performance optimus. Perhaps an adrenalin boosting cyber compound…" preceptor interjected

"no no, im fine it's just…"

"I got a few extra cygars, they worked wonders for me when Kup turned me onto them, but oh, yeah, you aint got a mouth do ya…" ironhide

"NO!" optimus shouted and slammed

The autobots were all shocked; it was rare for optimus to lose his calm diposition.

"ok, you definitely need a medical exam" ratchet said

"what is wrong optimus?" star saber asked

"I am very sorry my friends it's just…"

Optimus looked around be sure that the other autobots had returned to their own business, but also to be sure that solus wasn't in the room.

"I have learned some new information from the members of the 13 we have found, primarily nexus prime and vector prime. One of which is that I will soon see Elita-One again"

"really!?"

"splendid!"

"good for ya prime, you two were always good together"

"thank you, I look forward to that day, but that is not all that I've learned. I am not the first Optimus Prime"

"pardon?" preceptor asked

"what does that mean?" ratchet added

"It appears that the 13th prime of the 13 was named Optimus prime, and apparently I was named and rebuilt in his image"

"wow, heavy" ironhide said

"how did this happen optimus, and I mean I'm not even sure whether or not to call you that now"

"it appears to have been mechanized by Alpha Trion, after all he is the one who rebuilt me and gave me the matrix of leadership, but for what purpose, I haven't the faintest clue"

"quite a curious predicament prime" preceptor spoke up

"Optimus, there's nothing in that journal alpha trion made for you about all this"

"I'm not sure, im a bit nervous about checking. I can't even imagine what it might say about all of this"

"well we can't make you read it if you don't want to optimus. If you don't want to then you don't want to"

"thank you my friends, and to be honest I have developed the suspicion that the reason he never told me was because he wanted me to learn it on my own. I believe those, and many more answers await us on this quest"

Back on Cybertron, Alpha Trion was using his Vector Sigma super computer to help him interface with and support the spark of Primus. He suddenly heard the sound of the service lift at the far end of the chamber.

"Prima, Nexus, Quintus; is that you?" he called out

"I'm afraid not" Ultra Magnus replied

Since taking temporary command of the autobots and being made aware of the dire situation, ultra magnus made it a point to visit and keep in contact with alpha trion regularly. He transformed as did Kup, Prowl and Rodimus, who had accompanied him.

"sorry to disappoint old timer. Why would you think we were them anyway?" Rodimus spoke up

"because the three of them have already returnd to cybertron"

"what they're here, where are they!?" kup shouted

"in the hall of records far above" trion answered nonchalantly

"they're in the hall itself?" prowl asked skeptically

"the hall of records is more than just my work place young autobots…

"young?" rodimus said and gestured to kup

"why you wise mouth little…" kup started growling

A harsh look from magnus defused the situation quickly.

"as I was saying, the hall of records is more than just my work place, it is my sanctuary and has been so since long before any of you came online."

"wow" was all prowl said

"above the hall is a complex which has long served as my home. My returned brothers are up there resting as we speak"

"wooooow!" rodimus' jaw dropped.

"how long have you actually resided here?" magnus asked

"I assume that you learned from optimus that I myself am a member of the 13 original primes. What you may not know is that right in this very spot, miles above us where Iacon now stands, once stood a vast mighty fortress, The Palace of the Primes. It was the bastion of ancient cybertron that we had built as our home. Though most of it crumbled under the ages and advancements of time, the hall of records, which was the palaces library and had always been my refuge, survived. More so, it has helped teach those who sought knowledge and guidance in the following ages."

"Simply incredible" ultra magnus commented

Even rodimus was in awe and had no snappy remark or rude comment. He had nothing but respect for the old bot.

"unfortunately, alpha trion, more complications may stand in the way of cybertron salvation"

"what do you mean commander?"

"Blaster, our communications officer, picked up an encoded message emanating from deep space; a decepticon message, sent by megatron"

They all noticed a change in alpha trion at the mention of megatrons name. It wasn't fear he shown, simply discomfort and agitation.

"are you all right?" prowl asked

"yes, I simply…do not like hearing that name said aloud"

"regardless alpha trion, megatron sent out a call-to-arms to all decpeticons. We believe he may be going after optimus while he is searching for the other primes" magnus said very seriously

"either that or he plans to take cybertron while optimus is not here to defend it; either action seems logical based on the sudden resurgence of the decepticons" prowl added

"What's worse, the remains of the 'cons that were still here have heard their masters call and are starting to come together and reorganize" kup groaned

"and we even got reports from our scouts that megatrons top lieutenants, Stasrcseram and Soundwave, have returned to cybertron to join them" magnus adds

"we also have had a serious security breach. It seems that an autobot by the name of Longarm may be a decepticon spy. He was on communications duty when we intercepted megatrons message and he tried covering it up and now he has gone into hiding" prowl adds agrily

"oh dear, things are getting more complicated" trion shrugs

"yeah, and they wouldn't be as bad if the planetary guns were still online so they could have blasted "scream" and "wave" before they even got close to the planet!" rodimus complained

"admittedly that may be true, rodimus, but optimus had them shut down because they were too powerful to leave unchecked"

"indeed" trion agreed

"regardless, if the decepticon intend to strike, the autobots will be ready for them"

"I assure you autobots…"

They heard the new voice and all turned to the open elevator, where Prima himself stood, along with Nexus Prime and Quintus Prime.

"…if these "decepticons" dare to harm the body of primus, they will face not only the fury of the autobots, but that of the children of Primus as well!"

"ooooh yeah" rodimus shook with excitement.


	10. Chapter 10

The "hand" came out of hyperspace close to the planet that alchemist prime was believed to be on, but when they did, several warnings started to sound.

"What is it?" Optimus demanded

"We are getting a large amount of signals from the other end of this system"

"Quintassons, decepticons?!"

"Neither, as far as I can tell it is a large armada of ships that seem to be giving off a cybertronian-like signature" jazz reported

Optimus rubbed his chin in deep thought. He glanced at solus' spirit, who seemed unnerved for some reason, just like he was; something was not right.

"Well, should we make contact prime, they are transformers after all, maybe they could assist us" preceptor spoke up.

"No. We will keep our distance and continue with our mission, for the moment. We have no idea who they are or why they are here, and I have a bad feeling about it"

"But why, they are fellow transformers after all?"

"So are the decepticons" star saber says dryly

"Point taken"

"Get us to the planet and Do your best to avoid attracting their attention silverbolt"

"Understood prime"

The ship began to set down on the specified planet; Optimus decided it was best to land the ship rather than take the shuttle so that the ship would not sit in the open of space for anyone to see. The planet was very earth-like, with many varieties of different terrain spread across it.

"Optimus, I'm getting some very weird energy readings, like nothing I've every seen. They are coming from the north, towards the planets northern hemisphere."

"Then take the ship that way; set it down within a few miles of the energy signal. We don't want to be to close or to far from it. Star saber, you along with ratchet, bulkhead, silverbolt, maccadam and preceptor will remain on board. The rest of us will head off to follow the signal. Send out the order and have the away team assemble in the hanger once we set down"

"Yes sir Optimus, but you are taking such a small team with you"

" hopefully, it's all we will need" Optimus said with as much positivity as he could muster

As he left, star saber gave him a strange look then turned to jazz.

"Wait, in his team, did he include…"

Sure enough as Optimus was walking through the hall he was suddenly surprised by the mini-con Brains popping around the corner.

"Hey Optimus, may I have a quick word?"

"Of course brains" Optimus said politely, already knowing what it was about.

"Well per the order star saber issued, I appear to be on your away team, I wanted to clear up the obvious mistake with you"

" it isn't a mistake"

"What!?"

"I wanted you on my away team"

"But…but why, Im just a minicon, I'm not a warrior or a scout, or even an autobot, there is nothing I can contribute"

"How could you say you aren't an autobot, you are just as much one as any of us. There is much you can contribute brains. You forget how intelligent and intuitive and strong willed mini cons are. I want you there because just like the rotation of duties, I want everyone on this voyage to experience the struggles, the hardships and the amazing discoveries we continue to face. I would not have you come if I thought that you were truly in danger. Your friends will always watch your back, and I have something to help you watch theirs"

Optimus unhinged the condensed apex armor from his waist and handed to brains. It was a bit large for him to hold properly but he managed to magnetize it to his back it was much wiser for him to carry; it even helped him to walk more upright rather than hunching over.

"Use this only when you know you need to my friend, and you will see what you are really capable of"

"Ok Optimus, thanks"

The two soon joined the other autobots and the team set out on land towards the energy signal, confident that it was he prime that they sought. However, an evil that hey couldn't comprehend wound soon be upon them. At the far end of the solar system, the armada of ships sat. One small vessel suddenly appeared from the depths of space to join the mass of might starships.

"This is sideways returning, over"

"This is rook, we receive you, you are wanted at…"

"Hey rook, guess whose ugly mug I saw on lockdown ship, go on guess, I dare…"

"Sideways, the Liege Maximo has requested your presence immediately. Do not keep our master waiting." The signal then cut out

"Grrrr, of course not, we can't do that now could we, big damn blowhard" sideways groaned

His ship proceeded straight to the heart of the fleet where a massive, intricate starship sat. After docking his craft, he transformed into his jet mode and flew onto the upper hull of the ship to meet is master. There sat a giant throne, upon which sat the titanic form of the liege maximo. A giant fearsome being, three times the size of a combiner; dark green armor, spikes and protrusions jutting from his body, big bright red eyes and two great prominent horns that curved backwards over his head. Sideways landed in front of him and kneeled.

"Lord Maximo" he said with very little feeling

"How ant your mission?" Maximo bellowed in gnarling deep voice

"Great, I dropped off the core to lockdown just as you requested"

" good, the bounty hunter will get quite a shock from such an "unique" payment"

"What do you mean, uh sir?"

"The core I paid the bounty hunter with was a defective one, when he attempts to harness its power, it and him will go up like a dying star"

Sideways was horrified; lockdown had been something of a friend to him for a long time, and has just hand delivered his death to him.

"But, why why would you do that."

He was a bounty hunter, a scrap of scum running across the universe scraping his living off of others, like a parasite!"

" but my lord, I just don't…I cant…"

"SILENCE!"

The force of Maximo's voice and anger flung sideways backwards and left him sprawled and shaking on the hull.

"He is nothing, they are all nothing. We are he cybertronian empire and we are the future. All those others, autobots, decepticons and all those other weak transformers are nothing but evolutionary mistakes. They will soon be extinct to make way for us, the perfection of our kind. Now be gone from my sight you worthless drone!"

Sideways immediately transformed and flew back towards the ships hanger; he was cocky but he was no idiot either, he knew no smart words or complement would sway his master. As his commander vanished from sight, liege Maximos attention was caught sudden burst of dark energy beside him. The energy suddenly took shape as shadowy figure.

"You" Maximo growled

"Me" it deeply responded

" be gone, I have no time for you or any of your dark designs. I have mine own designs to fulfill"

"But a design of mine now aligns with a design of yours"

"What do you mean?"

It simply raises his arm and points out into the void, towards the other end of the system.

"I know what you have suffered through, to be attacked, thwarted and hunted at every turn by him"

"Alchemist!" Suddenly tenses

"Yes, your wicked brother who has made it his life's mission to torment you. Well now you can avenge yourself on him. And he is not alone, a group of primitive autobots, lead by a wannabe prime seek to help him, and I don't think you want to see that happen"

As Maximo begins to shake with rage, the shadow simply lets out slight noise of amusement before disappearing in a cloud of fiery darkness. Maximo is briefly able to put his rage aside in order to fashion a decent plan of action. Knowing that alchemist has only a small group of autobots as support, he sends one of his ships, under sideways command, to warp ahead and attack the enemy. They will distract and soften the autobots so that his ship can move in for the kill.

As the autobots got closer to the energy signal, the environment began to take on new and strange appearances.

"What is up with this place, everything looks so weird" override said as they drove

"I think it is evidence of the prime which we seek" Optimus said

"How?"

"It is very hard to explain, but these phenomenon seems to be evidence of alchemist primes abilities"

As they drew closer they could see flashes of light from a structure up ahead. They transformed and walked the rest of the way out of caution. As the had seen, many different flashes of light continued to burst from the inside of the building.

"Jazz and bee come with me. Mirage, you come to but stayed cloaked for now. The rest of you, keep you optics and audios open"

As The autobots moved into the small temple, they came to a large dome like room. At the center was a platform where alchemist prime stood. He was a stout bot, standing just a bit shorter than Optimus with silverfish green armor. Like his description said, his gauntlet-like arms glowed with pure energy; one glowed blue and white, the other yellow and red. Energy shot from each hand and flowed through the air with him guiding them, his hands dancing about like those of a conductor. As the awestruck autobots approached, a female voice suddenly came out.

"You stop, who are you!"

The autobots turned to see a being like they had never seen before. It appeared to be at least part cybertronian, the other part was plantlike. It seemed to dominate more of her biology that transformer. In some ways it reminded me of waspinator; they wondered if this was another of quintus primes wretched experiments. Before it could say anything else their attention was drawn to alchemist, who had ceased his energy show and turned to them, smiling. He stepped down from the alter but still staid a distance away.

"Greeting autobots you are most welcome"

"Alchemist prime, we have come here to…"

"do not worry, I know why you are here Optimus, I knew before you even got here. I felt the weakening of primus' spark within my own and knew that sooner or later someone would come"

" and you know my name"

" I see many things that others can not, I know precisely who you are. Oh, and you can tell your friend there he doesn't need to stay cloaked, I can see him quite clearly" alchemist smiled

"But…but how?" Mirage said as he reappeared

Alchemist simply smiled and tapped his lenses, reminding the autobots of what trion notes said about them.

"And what exactly are you doing here?" Optimus asked

Alchemist frowned and turned away before letting out a long sigh. The plant bot also took on a concerned look as she looked towards him.

"I have been doing what I have done for many many cycles, attempting to find away to stop my brother and bring him to justice"

"Liege Maximo, alpha trions notes mentioned you searching for him"

"Yes, and when I finally did, I found he had grown much stronger, created his own army, the cybertronian empire as he calls it."

"And yet despite that, after all this time, you are still trying to stop him?" Bee asked

" I must, I can never forget his crimes. He plotted against us. The fallen fell to darkness because of his weakness and hatred, but Maximo chose to betray us. I swore he would pay for putting himself before our brotherhood"

"As hard as it may be alchemist, you must put that behind you. In order to save primus and cybertron, you will have to stand as brothers again"

"I know, I have thought about this a lot. Botanica here has helped me see the issue as a whole"

"Who and what is she anyways?" bee asked

"Oh I'm sorry this is botanica, my student"

"Hello there, I'm sorry I yelled at you before"

She then explained how she was part of an old cybertronian exploratory mission. When they came to that planet, it's dominant life form were plant based being, and they scanned them as alternate modes and over time, their own biology merged with theirs"

"Man, preceptor would be loosing it if he were here" mirage smiled.

"So why haven't we seen these plant things, and where's your crew?" Jazz asked

"Liege Maximo" she frowned

"His forces decimated this world and slaughtered her comrades, seeing them as affronts to what they see as the pure form cybertronians should be, themselves"

"I was lucky that alchemist prime found me before I too was slaughtered, he took me under his tutelage and showed me the true wonders of creation and knowledge" she smiled

"Yes, and as much as I hate the idea of it, I understand what I must do, I must give up my crusade and my exploration to return to cybertron…huh, well I have missed alpha trion so"

"well, you seem to be taking this all rather well" Optimus said as handed alchemist the transport orb

"Yes, well I have always prided myself on my ability to take things in strive" he smiled

"And you botanica, what will you do, you are free to join us"

"Thank you Optimus prime, but I truly wish to see cybertron again. I can hardly remember what it looks like. You hope you have no problem with me returning with you master?"

"Of course not my dear student, I was hoping you would. As for you Optimus, I fear for you, you have an even harder task than me ahead. I was simply fighting liege Maximo, you must now try to convince him to rejoin us, and I truly doubt you will have much success, but I wish you…"

"Optimus, we have incoming!" Star saber suddenly came over the comms

"What?!"

"One of the ships from that fleet is heading right for you, and the rest isn't far behind!"

"Its Maximo, he found us"

The other autobots came running into the room, weapons drawn as the sound of the enemy starship could be heard overhead. Suddenly an explosion rocked the temple and destroyed one of its walls. The shock caused alchemist to drop the space bridge orb, activating it.

"Wait, no Optimus I have to warn you about…!"

In a flash of light the bridge opened and the prime and his student were whisked away back to cybertron. Unfortunately, arcee had enough standing to close to them and had also been encompassed in the portal. The three suddenly found themselves in the core chamber of cybertron. Alchemists eyes were suddenly drawn to a console where trion and quintus stood.

"Brothers!" He bellowed happily

"Aww scrap, override is going to kill me" arcee vented

"why is that?" Botanica asked

"because now she is the only female left for solus prime to use as a vessel. Ooooooh, she is gonna be pissed"

Alchemist rushed over and hugged the two other primes, then singled out trion for another one.

"It has been so very long my brother" trion smiled

"oh yes it has, though I wish it had been a few second longer, I didn't have time to warn Optimus about "the shadow"

" who?"

" an evil entity that is an ally of Maximo. I suspect he may somehow be connected to our dark brother"

" you mean…oh dear, we must find a way to get word to Optimus, he isn't ready to face that evil yet"

"I doubt he ever could be, we weren't".


	11. Chapter 11

Alchemist prime, botanica and arcee had vanished and Optimus was trying his best to get a handle on the situation. A hostile starship was above them with more on the way and they were now down to 15 autobots, or rather 14 autobots and one useless tag along. The autobots ran outside as enemy fighters filled the sky. As the starship aimed its primary guns at the autobots and prepared to fire, they were blasted as the "hand" came roaring through the sky. Just then star saber, bulkhead and perceptor came by ground to join their comrades, guns blazing.

"Optimus, what is this"

"They are the legions of liege Maximo and seem quite intent on destroying us"

As their ships engaged, a huge force of warriors, led by sideways, suddenly dropped to the ground and the two forces engaged in a furious battle. An explosion suddenly sent brains flying through the air.

"Brains now!" Optimus shouted

As he flew through the air, Brains grabbed the apex armor and pressed the center dial. Multiple layers of metal and armor began to unfold from virtually nowhere and when brains landed, he was encompassed in a large bulky suit of armor. He now stood even taller than bulkhead felt new energy flowing through his own little body. With little effort he bashed and smashed his way through scores of enemy troops. After cutting down an enemy with his sword, star saber moved to back Optimus when his way was blocked by sideways.

"Hohoho, big tough bot, let's see how tough you are"

Sideways converted his wings into two broad swords and they clashed in a heated duel. Star saber was better trained but sideways was faster, especially with his ability to warp, which had him literally running circles around his opponent. With some skill and a bit of luck, star saber mangled to land a punch on sideways.

"Oooooh, if there's one thing I hate, it's a fair fight" sideways scowled, or would if he had a face.

He suddenly connected his swords into one double ended weapon and fully extended his arm mounted shield and really started laying into the autobot. After fighting off some enemies Optimus had brief moment to survey the battlefield; he could see his autobots holding off their attackers, but just barely. The autobots were visually exhausted and couldn't keep the fight up for much longer and the "hand" was starting to take serious damage. Optimus began to grow greatly worried, the situation was growing way to out of control. Suddenly, optimus' worst nightmares were realized. He turned to see Ironhide in the center of a whole squad of troops. Just as he forced them off of him, his chest erupted and shattered as a laser last struck him in the back.

"Noooooo!" Optimus yelled

A look of horror came over the autobots face as he fought to stay standing but finally collapsed. Just as Optimus was about to run to his old friend, he noticed all the other autobots being similarly overwhelmed and struck down.

"Nonono!" Optimus was overwhelmed with anger and grief, he couldn't even move.

Suddenly the sky was blackened as liege Maximo and his command ship arrived and the air filled with his wicked laugh.

"Curse the pit, I can sense he is gone. my brother may have escaped, but you won't; either way, a prime will die this day!"

Liege Maximo raised his mighty clawed hand and then flung it downwards, signaling his cannons to fire. They devastated the battlefield, felling both autobots and his own troops. Optimus stood in horror, even as fire and laser blast scorched his armor. His worry for his friends was overwriting every other concern in his processor.

"What the slag are you doing!" Sideways squealed as he scrambled to avoid being engulfed in flame

Liege then had his cannons aim higher up and when they fired, the "hands" belly erupted with flames; the whole middle section of the ship began to explode and crumble.

"Optimus!" Ratchets panicked voice came

"Ratchet, ratchet!"

"Optimus, the ship's coming apart and going down, everything is on fire!"

"Ratchet, hang on!"

"I can't stop it prime, the others are down and maccadam is gone. Optimus, I'm…I'm sorry, I think…"

The signal went dead as the the "hand" began to fall from the sky in a fire ball.

"Ratchet, no nooooooo!"

For a split moment Optimus saw a bright ball of light in the sky which flashed and encompassed everything. Optimus looked about frantically, but everything seemed to stand still, even the burning hand sat perched in mid air. As Optimus looked, he thought he could make out something moving on the ships outer hull; it looked vaguely like maccadam. The only things that didn't seem to frozen were Optimus and liege Maximo. Maximo looked about furious before turning to look at the light.

"It can't be"

Optimus did the same and after a minute he was able to see the shape of a bot inside. The light began to fade a bit and Optimus could see clearly who it was.

"Vector prime?!"

Vector looked strained and tired, and Optimus finally understood what he was doing. He had stopped time with his powers over it. The light began to fade and vector began to slump, exhausted.

"Hahahaha, your to old for this brother, you don't have the strength to do what your trying to anymore. You're just a relic"

Vector prime looked down in shame and his eyes met optimus'. He saw the hope in them and remembered why he had come. After concentrating and focusing his power he cried out as his energy renewed and shined even brighter.

"Vector, no, don't you dare!" Maximo growled

"Turn back the hands of time!" Vector called out as he held his sword high

The light from his body suddenly blasted outward and everything became a blur. Optimus opened his eyes and suddenly found himself standing in the temple with his autobots. He looked around confused and everything began to sink in; vector prime had reversed time, though only by 20 minutes or so, it was enoughThe to possibly change the fates of his friends. Time began to slowly move back at normal speed and he realized it was just as Maximos first force arrived. He turned to see alchemist had already dropped the space bridge orb. Optimus had just enough time to sort out what he needed to do as time finally returned to normal.

" autobots roll out, full speed back to the ship, NOW!" He shouted

None of the autobots argued and the sped out of the temple into the woods, which helped to cover their escape, just as he left Optimus caught the last glimpse of alchemist, botanica and arcee before the were encompassed by the ball of light, with alchemist still yelling his unfinished warning.

" star saber, come in"

" I'm here Optimus, we are on our way to…"

"No, get back to the ship, we are on our way back, have the ship to warp as soon as we get there"

"Optimus, going into warp with in an atmosphere is highly dangerous" perceptor spoke up

" we have to get out of her now, liege Maximo and his forces are to powerful for"

" speaking of which prime, I think they finally spotted us!"

" keep going everyone, I'll try and hold gem off" jet fire said as he broke away from the group

" jetfire no!"

The jet had already engaged the enemy and was keeping their fighters occupied. Without saying a word, silverbolt had left the Hand to give him a hand.

"Ship is ready to go Optimus, we are just off the ground and waiting for you get aboard"

"Good, jetfire, silverbolt, break engagement and get back to the ship as fast as possible"

"But prime, they will follow us" silverbolt argued

"They are just small fighters, the command ship is still to far behind. Now get back here, the auto guns and shields will handle the enemy"

The jets flew a few circles around he enemy to confuse them before breaking off when jetfire heard silverbolt let out a grunt.

"Bolt, what is it?"

"One of my wings got clipped, I'm losing speed"

" hold on, I'll come back around and…"

"No go, I'll only get you killed to. Get back to the others and I'll cover you"

" not a chance Bolt, there is now way in the pit I'm leaving you"

"Damn it, I said go, the Hand need its pilot, now go while I keep'em off you. GO!"

Silverbolt spun around and charged back at the enemy fighter while jetfire reluctantly headed back to the ship. He arrived back just as the ground team did and make straight for the control room. All the autobots knew what silverbolt was doing but none had the courage or strength to say anything. As the ship started into the open sky , they could see the sky battle. Silverbolt was holding his own until the starship joined the battle. Sideways himself took control of one of the ships turrets and landed a direst hit on silverbolts underbelly. His jet mode caught fire and he bang to spin out of control.

"Uh uh, not like this!" He shouted

With the last of his strength he climbed as high as he could before he inevitably began to fall and spin again, but now he had aimed himself right at the starship. As the other autobots watched, the aerialbots strained voice came over the comms.

"Optimus prime, autobots, it's been my honor, no you go and find those primes"

"Silverbolt" Optimus breathed

"And tell the other aerialbots that I won't be able to buy them the drinks I owe them or…."

Silverbolts burning form suddenly rammed right through into the bridge of the enemy ship, causing the whole front end to erupt in a massive explosion which brought the ship crashing to the ground. The autobots had only a moment to mourn before noticing liege Maximo and the rest of his fleet approaching. They wasted no time and blasted through the atmosphere. Maximo surveyed his ruined ship when sideways suddenly appeared beside him. He let out a sigh of relief, glad that he had warped out of the ship in time.

"well, that could have gone better" he shrugged

Maximo swatted the annoying bot away and glared at the sky where the Hand had gone.

"Should we follow them boss?"

" no, don't bother, they'll be back, he'll be back…for me"

Since they weren't being followed, the autobots only warped to get them out of the system. The autobots held a brief service for silverbolt.

"It would seem that superior will never rise again" perceptor remarked as the autobots Solemnly dispersed.

Optimus was about to head for his quarters when he glanced out the window and suddenly noticed vector prime floating, limply, alongside the Hand. Optimus quickly made his out to the hall and used a line to rope the prime and pull him over.

"Vector prime, are you all right?"

"Arrrr, ahh Optimus, thank primus, you did make it"

"And my autobots, thanks to you"

"I truly wasn't sure if I still had the strength in me"

"I'm sure solus would say that you always had it"

"Wait, where has solus been through all this" Optimus thought to himself

"Well, I think now you know why I couldn't return to cybertron yet, I had another task ahead of me" Vector smiled

"And I am happy you did"

"Yes, but I am very weak now, I don't think I have the mean of returning to cybertron by my own power"

Optimus understood and retrieved one of the spacebridge orbs for him.

"Are you returning now?"

"No, not just yet, I have one more…affair, to look into"

"Another one of mine?"

"Yes and no, but I can not say anything definitively at this moment. If the issue develops in the way I suspect, then I will contact you again, if not, then I will meet you back on cybertron"

"I don't quite understand, but I trust you"

" good, and before I go Optimus, I have one more i portent thing to tell you"

Vector prime weakly leaned into closer to Optimus and pointed out into the void, and Optimus followed his figure where it pointed.

"look there Optimus, do you riiiight about there, that blueish star"

"Yes…yes I do see"

"Go there Optimus…go there. She is there, she is waiting for you" vector smiled

"El…Elita?!"

"Yes, she is there, follow that star and the sole planet circling it, and you will be with her again"

Optimus went to ask another question but vector had pushed himself off of the hull and drifted off as the ship continued. Optimus looked but when vector smiled and raised his arm in simple good buy, Optimus matched and soon made his way back inside. As soon as the Hand was out of sight, vector smile turned to a frown and he closed his eyes. He began to concentrate and let his mind roam beyond his physical self. He was no Alchemist but his power over time and space did offer some benefits. Focused on his target, he envisioned the image of the being he was investigating: the shadow entity.

"You are a shadow who moves in the darkness. Who are you?"

Suddenly, just as he concentrated and pinpointed his target, his mind and spark were suddenly attacked and bombarded by waves of dark energy. He felt like his body was on fire, like tendrils of flames, hotter than any sun, were wrapping around him. Within his mind he saw veil of fire and shadow, from which, a dark figure appeared; it was the shadow but just as vector realized who it was, the image shattered, revealing another form. This form was the true being behind the face, and it took vector only a moment to recognize it. He gaped in horror as he realized who it was; their burning red eyes staring right into his spark and for the first time In centuries, he was afraid.

"You, no it can't be!"

"oh yes it can, brother"

"you have not right to call me, or any of us that anymore"

"My right is to do what I wish. This universe shall fall into darkness"

The being then stretched out his hand and more waves of agony spread through vectors body until suddenly it stopped. The pain, the vision, his tormentor, they were all just gone and he floated, barely conscious, through the void.

Back on the hand, Optimus had the ship moving double speed to get to the star vector prime had pointed out to him. He had since gone back out on the hull again, but this time to just sit. After vector had gone he realized how peaceful it was out there. He had gone up there with the 13 journal and a space bridge orb, which he was rolling between his palms. He was thinking of Elita-one, the time they had spent together and the idea of finally seeing her again; for the first time in a long time, he felt actual happiness. He suddenly thought back to the knowledge of his relation to the original Optimus prime, reminded of it by memories of him and Elita before the war. After gaining some courage, he took out the journal and prepared to flip to the page that he know described him.

"Hello optimus"

The sudden voice made him jump a bit.

" solus, good to see you again, in fact where have you been, do have any idea what has happened"

"Yes yes, Optimus I do, it was just…"

"What is it solus?"

"Primus is weakening, I can feel it, I'm sure we all can. My spark is still one with his and in his weakness, I was unable to maintain my form, but I did see everything through you. I...I am so sorry about silverbolt, he was a good autobot"

" he was a good friend. so, before, you saw…"

The ship was suddenly rocked by collision that sent Optimus across the hull. As he looked up, he saw that a ship had rammed the Hand. Upon closer inspection, he saw that a decepticon symbol had been carved into the side.

"No"

"Optimus!"

Optimus looked up to see megatron rise from a hatch on the upper part of the ship. Below, a boarding hatch from lockdown ship extended and burrowed its way into the Hand. The small decepticon force poured in. They quickly made their way to the large wreck room, where many of the autobots had gathered. After both sides secured some cover, a furious fire fight broke out. Outside, megatron fired his fusion cannon in order to propel him right at Optimus. He tackled his enemy and the rolled across the deck.

" did you think you could escape me prime, that I wouldn't find you?"

Megatron wrapped his hands around primes neck and started backing his head against the deck. Optimus responded by fling his head upwards, slamming it into Megatrons. He stumbled back in pain as Optimus stood back up.

" you would be smart to stay down scum" solus scowled at megatron

"if I remember correctly megatron, it was you who fled after our last meeting, and from cybertron before that"

That was the past Optimus, and in the future, you will be no more and I will rule cybertron as its savior"

"Its what?"

Oh yes, I know of your mission prime, and after I destroy you, I will take it up and all transformers will see me as their savior"

"Nooooo!"

Optimus charged megatron and tackled him. They bounced off of the hull and drifted into open space, still grappling. Megatron finally pusses Optimus off of him, and managed to grab the bridge orb in the process.

"oh and what is this prime, one of your little toys?"

" yes, and I'm sure you will be surprised by what it does"

Megatron looked at the orb and realized that in clutching it, he had activated it. The small light on the ball began to grow brighter. This strange device, plus the look Optimus was giving him, gave megatron a sick feeling in his spark. Suddenly he was encompassed in a ball of light and even in space, his scream of surprise could be heard. On the Hand, the fire fight was still raging, when suddenly cyclones caught sight of Megatrons disappearing act.

"Megatron is gone, he just finished in a flash of light. What happened to our leader?"

"Prime probably finally took care of him, and you lot are about to follow him" Ironhide stood up an grinned.

Caught of guard and no leaderless, the decepticons panicked and retreated back to their ship. As soon as they withdrew their boarding hatch their ship retreated at full speed.

"Maybe we will get a little peace now"

Optimus suddenly realized that he was still drifting through dead space a ways away from the ship.

" uh, jetfire, could you possibly fly out here and give me an assist"

"What do think will happen to megatron?" Solus asked as she appeared beside him

" oh, I think he is in for a big surprise"

In the core chamber of cybertron, the returned primes and autobots were gathered. Suddenly the light of a space bridge appeared. Though they expected to see another prime, they did not expect megatron of all bots to appear and slam onto the floor with a grunt. Megatron looked up in anger, but his look quickly turned to confusion and the to awe. He looked up to see the giant spark that was the heart of their work and creator. Below that he saw 5 primes looking at him with equally confused looks, or rather, 4 confused primes. Alpha Trions eyes narrowed in disdain at the decepticon leaders presence. Megatron suddenly heard the cocking of multiple guns from behind him. He Leaned his head back and was met with the sight of a group of angry looking autobots, all of which had their weapons pointed at him. All he did was frown at the course of events.


	12. Intermission-talk page

Hello, this is a little intermission/talk page I decided to add to get some things about the story and other such things out there while I work on the next few chapters. Firstly, thanks to all who read this and my other stories and I hope you plan to stick around for more. I really enjoy feedback so please review and critiques this and my other stories and feel free to message me with anything you have to say.

So, I hope you guys like the story so far. The 13 has become one of my favorite elements of the TF franchise and I am trying to average in all the versions and facts on them across the franchise with my own imagination to create an amazing story. On those notes, I will also be factoring in, to both old chapters and new ones, the new elements that have been introduced in the new RID series. I would also like to add how incredible the members of the 13 who appeared in the series so far have been handled, mainly the two main ones micronus and megatronus, as well as the brief cameos of vector, prima, trion, nexus, quintus and alchemist, which admittedly could have been better. Anyway, megatronus in the finale was spectacular and I look forward to his return in the series. I will attempt to carry over some of his and micronus' show elements into my versions of them. I highly recommend watching the show to any TF fan.

So, moving on, based on some reviews I have gotten and some discussion about it over on the tfw2005 boards, I have created my voice cast list for the members of the 13. I have added the actor as well as a role you may know them from as reference.

**Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen)**

**Alpha Trion (Phil LaMarr) -animated alpha trion**

**Vector Prime (Richard Newman) -cybertron vector prime**

**Prima (Glenn Morshower)- general from ROTF**

**Micronus Prime (Adrian Pasdar)-RID micronus**

**Onyx Prime(Scott McNeil)-beast wars dinobot/silverbolt**

**Liege Maximo (keith david)-gargoyles goliath**

**Megatronus Prime (Gil Gerard)-RID megatronus**

**Amalgamous Prime (Billy West) -fry and a bunch others on fururama**

**Alchemist Prime (william shatner)-captain kirk**

**Quintus Prime (mark hamill)-the joker**

**Solus Prime (Markie Post)- TFP june darby**

**Nexus Prime (Kevin Michael Richardson)-tfp bulkhead**

Doing that really makes me hope for a series, cartoon or comic, specifically focused on the 13 and their history. How sick would that be

So, back to the story itself, things are going to get ramped up pretty soon, and the next few chapters will begin to focus on major on events on cybertron and the remaining autobots and primes having to deal with them. I would also send out a special big thanks to fellow fanfic member _**Raptorian, **_who has been this fics biggest supporter and has been constantly vocal through most of its run and whose input has helped shape some, past and future, elements of it.

That just about wraps up this little recap/rambling page. I would like to take this last sec to promote and point people to read my other fics as well, especially "Arcee in Wonderland" and my other pages. I also write some stuff over on , also under the profile name supernova222, so I encourage you to pop over there sometime, assuming you are over 18, and checking of my fics there out. I am also on deviant art under the profile name tritie (I know the name sucks but it was all I could get when I first joined). I have plenty of TF related stuff there, including pics of my 13 primes custom figures collection, made from regular figs, custom figs and 3rd party figs. It is almost complete and I am insanely proud of it

So, that is it for now, hope this gave you a little insight into me. Please keep reading and enjoying the fic and check out my other pages.

Thanks

Chris(Supernova222)


	13. Chapter 12

Megatron stood before the primes, held at gunpoint by rodimus, Kup, prowl and arcee. Ultra Magnus wore a very serious face as he walked to stand beside alpha trion. Things had been quite tense. The arrival of megatron seemed to have severely angered prima and nexus prime and they very nearly attacked him. As far as he could tell, they seemed to have taken him for someone else

"so, this is the tyrant who has dared to decimate cybertron and its people, and the barer of such an evil title" Prima scowled

"what does my name have to do with it" megatron scowled back

This was the first time megatron had spoken up since he arrived. He had been in such awe, seeing some of the legendary 13 as well as looking upon the very spark of primus himself. Simply being in its presence seemed to make all his anger, hatred and destructive thoughts and tendencies melt away.

"more than you could possibly realize" trion answered his previous question.

"Well, if I am to be executed, let us be done with it. If you primes are anything like Optimus, than I'm sure long speeches and pontifications are forthcoming, and I just would rather die than listen to that"

"very well" Prima said as he held the star saber up

"Wait, no, this isn't the dark ages. He will stand trial and be judged accordingly" Magnus cut in

"No, he will be judged here, by primus. Megatron, you are guilty of crimes against cybertron, your fellow transformers, other races and against primus himself. For these your spark shall be extinguished. May primus have mercy on you"

As prima raised his sword, suddenly the core flared in energy, causing all the primes to turn to it. They were listening, as the voice of primus spoke out to them but to no others. After a moment, Prima turned back.

"Primus…has decreed that you be spared" Prima sighed.

"Huh, I didn't realize that whole mercy thing was literal" rodimus shrugged

"what?" megatron blanked

"Primus has deemed that he may have a purpose to serve in the salvation of cybertron" alpha trion shrugged

"Bull slag, this is megatron, leader of the decepticons. He doesn't save anything!" Kup grunted

"I agree, he should be imprisoned indefinitely" Magnus added

"Do not doubt the word of primus" Prima said

Before the argument could continue any further, there was the light of a space bridge and suddenly vector prime appeared, weakly lying upon the floor. The others all rushed to him in worry; even megatron seemed concerned.

"Brother, vector, vector!?" Primus said as he and trion leaned him up

"what happened to you?"

"sha…shadow" vector said weekly

"who?"

"the shdaow"

"That is him, the dark entity I was talking about!" Alchemist burst out

Megatron froze as a distant memory suddenly snapped to the forefront of his mind, he remembered way back when he was younger, before the war, before he even had a name, only a number. When he had left being a miner to fight in the gladiator fights; remembers in the dark of the night a dark being appearing out of nowhere. It spoke to him, told him of strength and the new way cybertron had to be remade. That violence and domination were what had to be used to force change. He even gave him his name, one that reflected power and strength. It was this being that had inspired and shown megatron who he had to be and what he had to do to bring glory to all of cybertron. The idea that this being was the same that vector was speaking of gave megatron a sinking feeling in his spark. He somehow knew instinctively that they were one in the same.

"I…I have seen his true being, his is nothing but a shadow, a husk, a mindless puppet being controlled."

"By who?" Prima asked gravely

"By…our fallen brother…by Megatronus"

As if a result of the name being uttered, a strange chill washed through the chamber, like a wave of fear and discontent. Megatron looked in horror and staggered backwards as he realized who, of all beings, was the one who sent him down his path, who manipulated him into his will. He was not lifeless, but he was used just the same as this shadow puppet. He had been carrying the name of one of the greatest monsters in cyberetrons history. The eyes of the autobots turned to him, them coming to the same conclusion as him.

"now you understand" trion turned to megatron

"it…impossible" he tried to argue

"Damn it, damn him. Even from the depths of the abyss he corrupts this universe and spreads his masters darkness"

"I believe he is trying to stop us from saving primus"

"if primus were to die, so would he" quintus argued

"no, he is a herald of unicron now, his spark is now connected to him as well" trion spoke

"If primus were to die, the only part of him that would suffer would be that small fragment of good that remains within him. The part that is still Megatronus Prime, rather than The Fallen; That part that Optimus must reach"

"but Optimus must be warned. He does not know the true nature of this scheme and he is certainly not ready to face Megatronus. They will no doubt seek to impede his quest" alchemist spoke up

"He must be warned" nexus added

"we will prepare a shuttle to go after Optimus, but where are they heading"

"I cannot…remember…forgive me brother, I just feel so weak…" Vector than passed out

Nexus prime scooped him up into his Arms and rested him down on a platform trion had cleared off. It sat just under the core, which would heal him.

"Scrap, how do we find Optimus now?!"

"I can, I will go"

All eyes then turned to megatron.

"you heard me autobots, I will go. My decepticons are tracking his ship. I will find them and track down Optimus to warn him myself"

"Absolutely not, do you really expect us to just turn you lose now that we have you"

"no...but they will" megatron turned towards the primes

"you said primus granted me mercy to help save cybertron, and this may be how"

The primes all looked at each other skeptically.

"You know I'm right, as much as it angers me as well, I am Optimus' only hope at surviving this greater plot"

"How do we know you can be trusted" alpha trion asked

"You can't, but it changes nothing"

"Then there is but one course of action…" Prima said

"Step forward megatron"

The other primes all stood behind Prima; even vector sat up while the autobots instinctively lined up ceremoniously behind megatron, though none of them were smiling. Prima then raised the star saber high over his head.

"megatron, leader of the decepticons, do you hereby swear, in the presence of these primes and of primus himself, to, for the sake of your home of cybertron, to seek out Optimus prime and assist him in whatever way possible to reunite the brotherhood of the 13 and save primus' spark and his body of cybertron?"

The idea of having to help Optimus briefly made megatron scowl but then he looked past Prima and at the core, and again his hatred vanished; for the first time in centuries, his spark felt some sense of piece.

"I. Swear."

"Well then…" Manus sighed

"we should prepare for your departure. I'll have a small, unarmed shuttle, prepared and equipped with equipment to track this decepticon ship. We will also have you properly repaired."

"this is total slag" prowl grumbled

"maybe, but are you going to go say that to him, or megatron, or Prima" kup smirked

Across space, the Hand was making its way towards the star vector prime had pointed Optimus too. Though the ship was still quite damaged from the recent attack, Optimus insisted that the repairs could wait until after they reached the planet, though Optimus did not tell them the real reason why. Since the wrap drive was damaged, they had to fly there at normal speed. Optimus and solus came to the wreck room where their attention was suddenly drawn to what looked like an argument between jazz and override. They seemed to be trying to keep it quiet so as not to draw attention.

"jazz, you overstepped your bounds, but if you weren't a superior officer, it was completely inappropriate. You know I'm with rodimus anyway"

"Ride, I swear on my love of music, I did not slap your aft, that ain't how I roll, I like a little romance, a little swing and bing first….era, anyway, it wasn't me"

"I saw who slapped me and it was you, there aren't a lot of others what and black bots on this ship"

"they were running right, it might have been blurry. It could have been anybody, 'hide being macho, Bee being immature, mirage or brains trying to be funny. Point is it wasn't me"

"Okay okay, I believe you, for now jazz, but things are getting really odd on this trip and I'm keeping my optics peeled"

"Yeah me too"

Optimus didn't intend listen in but couldn't help to. Yet another misunderstanding/identity issue on the Hand. They had grown more frequent each step of the journey and Optimus was more than sure that Maccadam was behind them. He headed to the control room and had just sat in his command seat when solus suddenly appeared.

"optimus, they are near, my brothers are near!"

"what, who, where?"

The other autobots all looked about in confusion at primes sudden outburst.

"oh, forgive me everyone, solus is speaking to me. Solus, who is near?"

"my brothers onyx…onyx and micronus, both of them"

"where are they?"

Solus closed her eyes and slowly looked around, scanning nearby space with her mind.

"there!"

She pointed to a lush jungle-like planet not far off from their present course.

"ok, after we finish our current task, we will head there to…"

"what, optimus, we are so close, we should just go there now"

"they will still be there after we…"

"optimus!"

Solus glared at optimus and for a moment he glared back. Eventually, he gave in, realizing that his personal desires came second to his quest to save cybertron. His reunion with Elia-one would have to wait. The room was silent, the awkwardness of optimus' one sided argument had made everyone uneasy, as if the energy of solus and optimus' feeling were radiating outwards.

"star saber, please save the coordinates of the star we were previously heading for and prepair to change course"

"where to optimus?"

"that planet there" he pointed through the window

"on it sir. With our current lack of speed, we should be there in just under an hour"

"Thank you, keep me informed"

Optimus left the bridge with a slight air of sadness. Solus wanted to follow and speak to him, knowing what was bothering him but deciding it was best to leave him be. Optimus made his way to his quarters and found the 13 journal to read up on the soon to be encountered primes.

_"__Micronus Prime was the smallest and but most friendly of us. He was the 5th of us created and was the first mini-con. As such, he was much smaller than the rest of us, but made up for it in spirit, intellect and the boundless energy he had contained within his tiny form. He was by far the friendliest of us all and often acted as our groups conscience. Due to his small size, if he wasn't levitating, encased in his energy orb, than he was perched happily on the shoulder of either solus or another prime. He was a part of the small clique that eventually formed out of Solus, Nexus, Onyx and himself. In battle, when his energy orb proved inefficient, he employed the Apex armor, which solus had made especially for him. His power was his Powerlink Port, which allowed him to combine with and boost the power of the other primes. This ability would later be passed on to all future mini-cons on cybertron, which unfortunately made them quite coveted. Like the others of their group, he took solus' death very hard, causing him to lose some of his upbeat attitude. After mourning, he accompanied Onyx prime when he chose to leave cybertron. They spend much of their time traveling between many wild planets to watch over the wild beasts that inhabited them. Because of that, their exact coordinates cannot be specified, which will not make your search for them easy."_

"not quite, old friend. We have stumbled across them by complete accident" he laughed as he turned the page.

_"__Onyx Prime was the 8__th__ of us and the first beats bot. Like any transformer with a beast mode, he exhibited the same powerful and wild personality. From this spawned a strong and sometimes scary alpha male type mindset. He was the spirit warrior among us and had a great attunement to nature. He was fiercely loyal to his close friend and upon solus' death, was the first on the warpath against the fallen one. After he was defeated, he chose to leave cybertron, accompanied by micronus, and traveled across many planets, overseeing the many wild beasts that inhabited them. His artifact was the Triptych Mask, which he almost always wore. It gave him the ability to communicate with any beast, any life form, be they cybertronian, organic or otherwise. It gave him a greater understanding of all other creatures and life forms across the universe. I should also warn you optimus, that when onyx is in his mighty beast form, some of his higher thought processes become deluded and he can become even more wild and unpredictable."_

As the Hand made planet fall, the autobots had no idea that two decepticons were already present on the planet. Cyclonus and Sixshot trudged through the undergrowth of the planets wilderness.

"this is horrible, why do we have to be here" sixshot growled

"It's better than being back on board, where that one handed waste of scrap keeps giving orders" cyclonus argued

"yeah, megatron's barely gone a cycle and he thinks he's in charge"

"I heard that he thinks he's gonna make us his new crew"

"over my husk!"

"precisely, and knockout is cozying up to him and plotting with him to make things better for himself; he is worse than starscream"

"Yeah, if things get to worse, we will have to off them ourselves"

"and instead of scouting this disgusting organic mess of a rock, we should be trying to find megatron. The scans did show it was a space bridges energy that encompassed him"

The two suddenly stopped as they realized many of the large native creatures had dared to approach them. There were both organic creatures as well as some biomechanical looking ones. Sixshot transformed into his wolf mode and started roaring and slashing at the beasts. Cyclonus decided to join in but knew is sword would do little to frighten the beasts. His hands withdrew into his arms while multiple spikes grew from his lower arms and they dropped to the ground as his upper arms retracted and were replaced by energy beams. He now stood with two flails were his arms would be. He began to spin them about violently, smashing trees and bashing the creatures violently. Once all the creatures had fled, the two stood smirking until a voice rang out.

"well that wasn't very nice"

The two looked up to see a bright greenish mini-con sitting on a tree branch, smirking.

"a minicon, aint seen one of those in a while"

"yeah, remember when we used to fight over 'em"

"well goodness, that doesn't sound very pleasant" the mini con smirked

"smart mouthed little thing aint he sixshot?"

"yeah, why don't we snag him, we could use a little power up to put lockdown in his place"

"you know what, I agree"

With that, the two charged forth. The minicon hopped from tree to tree and then down to the ground, just staying ahead of the pursuing bots. Sixshot fired from his pistol while cyclonus swung his arm flails about wildly, both smashing their way through the trees, and neither liking how cheerful the strange minicon seemed in the situation. After some more maneuvers, the minicon eluded his pursuers and hid behind a pile of boulder to have a laugh. Suddenly, the boulders exploded as cyclonus smashed through them with his maces. The sudden act caught him by surprise and he stumbled backwards over the edge of a high hill and he landed in a pond below. Just as he got his bearings again, the decepticon pair came crashing down from above. They started advancing on him and he started to tense up. He didn't like the way these two were acting and just as he prepared to retaliate, the sound of foot steps behind him distracted them all. From the brush, optimus and his autobots appeared, feeling confident with their better numbers compared to their enemies.

"micronus prime I presume" optimus glanced down at him

"indeed" micronus grinned

The look of realization and horror that overtook the decepticons brought such happiness to the group of autobots.

"perhaps us primes should show them the error of their ways" micronus smiled

Micronus jumped into the air and his body suddenly morphed into a bizarre new form which latches onto optimus' chest, becoming a new type of armor. Optimus begins to glow with the same green energy that micronus exhumed. Suddenly a blast from the combined primes sent the decepticons hurling backwards. Just as they prepared to blast them again, the decpeticons quickly fled through the forest. Micronus ejected himself from optimus.

"well, that went very well" micronus smiled

"I would say so micronus prime. We have come looking for you and onyx prime. You two are still traveling together aren't you?"

"well, yes and no"

"meaning" ironhide groaned

"onyx had spent too much time in his beast form at one time, and it overwhelmed his mind. He is, at the moment, another roaming beast. I have been following him for months and attempting to reach the more…civilized parts of his mind. Why are you here…uh…?" micronus looked optimus up and down.

"optimus…optimus prime, but not the one you think I am"

"riiiight" micronus raised an eyebrow skeptically

"we are here because we are seeking to reunite the 13, the very fate of cybertron depends on it"

"well, that certainly is a good reason. And it does explain a few things. Both onyx and myself had felt…something of late. An ache in our sparks, yet distant. It was this strange feeling that spooked him into going beast and fleeing into the wilderness. He was never the best with change. Back when…when solus died, he…we just seemed lost, didn't know what to do" he frowned.

"well then, perhaps with more numbers, we may better locate and reach him"

"well then, looks like we got ourselves a hunt" ironhide grinned

"I'll do recon from the air" jetfire transformed

"very good jetfire, the rest of you, split up into teams so we can cover more ground. Report if you find anything"

As the autobots split up, only the two primes remained.

"so optimus, I suppose we will be a team then" he smiled

"well after all, three primes are better than one" came another voice

Suddenly the form of solus prime appeared beside them. The look of pure happiness that spread across micronus' was indescribable.

"SOLUS!"

He jumped forward to hug her, and slammed face first into the mud when he passed through her incorporeal form. After a moment of humiliation and confusion, the minicon was able to put the situation to together.

"oh solus, dear sister, it is so good to hear your voice, to see you again, well kinda"

"I feel the same way my little brother"

The three primes walked and talked as the searched for signs of Onyx prime. Though saddened by solus' state, micronus was happy to spend time with her again. Optimus began to feel like a third wheel as the other two reminisced. He was about to break off on his own when there was sudden crash and a horrific animal call in the far end of the forest.

"that sounded like onyx!" micronus spun

"prime, I think we found him, it's the biggest, badest beast we've seen yet; wings, claws and lots of attitude" jetfire reported

"that's him alright"

"jetfire get his attention"

"I can see a good sized clearing near the center of the forest prime"

"jetfire, lead him there and be careful, all other autobots, converge on the clearing and do what you can to keep onyx prime there"

"blast it, this is going to be a massacre, he will shred you troops. I wish I still had my apex armor"

Optimus and solus shared a hopeful look.

"that's it, Brains, do you read me?"

"here prime"

"who is brains?"

"A minicon among our team, he has the apex armor, I gave it to him"

"another minicon, steller!"

"brains, get to the coordinates the other are converging on and bring the apex armor"

"on my way optimus, will get there as fast as my little legs can get me there, hehe"

The three primes finally made it to the clearing, where the other autobots were strategically spread out along the edges. Suddenly there was the sound of laser fire. Jetfire came flying through the trees, trees that suddenly shattered as a titanic beast charged into sight. What the autobots saw was best described as a large mechanical gryphon; great wings, long segmented whip-like tail, rows of spikes and metallic feathers, a long beak full of razor sharp teeth attached to a large crested head. As its large wings flapped it sent gusts of wind that almost sent micronus flying. It took off skyward as it chased its jet powered prey. They fluttered in an aerial dogfight until a swipe from its mighty claws sent jetfire crashing to the ground. The beast grounded itself at the center of the clearing and, after realizing that it was surrounded, let out a deep deafening roar. As the beast tensed and the autobots started to move in, a volley of laser fire erupted from the tree line. Two jets came barely through, knocking down any autobots in their way. Sixshot and cyclonus transformed and landed with their weapons ready. They wore wicked grins and readied to go after the downed autobots when they heard a rumbling growl from behind them. They turned in confusion, which turned to horror as they looked upon the feral prime. Onyx raised is claw and swung at them. Though cyclonus had the reflexes to dodge it, sixshot didn't and the decepticon super soldier was sent flying over the tree line like a rag doll. Cyclonus had only turned back to the beast when he was similarly dispatched by a talon swipe. Using the time the distraction had given them, optimus, solus and micronus had taken up positions around onyx prime. They made a connection of energy between the three of them that they also began to focus onto onyx. Even the incorporeal solus was sable to focus her primus given energy. They each called out to onyx, reaching to the more intelligent part of his mind. The beast still struggled but then in one instant, it took pause and understood. As the energy began to dissipate, the beast looked about thoughtfully before flexing its body and suddenly transforming. Its front part flipped upwards to form its upper body, talons now formed into long clawed hands, his wings rose from his back, his griffin head folded down to form his chest and from its top, his robot mode head rose, covered by the Triptych mask, which formed from his beast modes crest. On his lower body, his back beast legs had split in half and extended along his elongated lower body, giving him four legs. Optimus and the autobots looked in awe of the bestial prime, whose new appearance could best be described as a winged centaur. He slowly strode up to the other primes; he stood clearly taller than optimus.

"thank you, brothers and sister, for saving me from myself"

"oh onyx" solus smiled

"oh my sister, dear solus, it is good to see you again. We have all been lost without you, I was lost, and I am sad to say that a part of me didn't want to be found"

Optimus took the moment to get a closer look at Onyx. The triptych mask covered the upper half of his head and resembled a gryphon head itself. He spoke through a fanged mouth with voice that had the growling under tone of a beast but the calm serenity of a spirit.

"always so dramatic, onyx, can't you just say thanks and be done with it" micronus smiled

"guess not little brother"

"what, im like 10 seconds older than you!"

The primes all shared a laugh when they heard rustling in the bushes.

"wait, aren't you surprised by her, well, state?" optimus asked

"well, I am considered rather percepticve. She did die and yet she is hear. Also, I can kind of, well, see through her. That does simplify the matter a bit"

"oh" optimus said sheepishly

"optimus, optimus im here!"

Brains, encased in the apex armor, burst through the brush then stopped with a confused look.

"a bit late my minicon brother" micronus laughed

The other autobots all joined in things seemed to die down. The primes spoke with each other while the autobots prepared to head back to the ship. Micronus suddenly broke off from his group and went to share a private word with jetfire. From their direction, optimus thought he saw a flash of light but could not see the cause or reason when he got a chance to look. Soon jetfire too left and the minicon made his way to Brains.

"well, you seemed ready to give my brother a fight my fellow minicon"

"oh well yeah, just doing want needed to be done y'know"

"you are a strange looking one I must say, do all other minicons look like this?" micronus asked, sounding more insulting than he intended.

"aaaah, no, just me" brains slumped

"well too bad, because if they did they might be half as brave as you"

Brains suddenly beamed and it looked like his glowing fiber optic hair might burn out. He want to hand the apex armor disk back to its owner.

"I think you should hold on to it, ya big bad minicon warrior, you will probably be kicking more aft than me"

Micronus made his way back to the others as optimus handed onyx the space bridge orb, who in turn handed it to micronus.

"he will handle it better than me"

"will you return to cybertron now?"

"after I have chased those two trouble makers off this planet and ensure all the beast are safe we shall. I look forward to seeing our brothers again. Good bye my dear sister, good bye brother optimus"

"im not…"

Onyx suddenly transformed to his beast mode and once micronus had hopped on his back the rocketed into the sky and through the clouds.

"huh, will any of your brother not think I am one of you?"

Solus simply smiled before her form vanished.

"ah yes, the 13, the brother hood of secrests" optimus sighed

He transformed and headed back toward the Hand, his thoughts turning from his sacred quest to his personal one. He could now go to her, he could now find Elita-One.

**So, sorry this chapter took so long to post, I had a lot of other stuff to deal with. Life huh. So hope u liked micronus and onyx. I originally was going to have onyx turn into a winged liger type creature but certain friend made me realize that a gryphon was a better if not perfect fit for him. Also any fans of the movie Quest For Camelot, which is a movie I have loved since I was a kid, I hope you recognized the scene and references based on it. So next chapter will be long and based primarily on the battle on cybertron. It's gonna be **


	14. Chapter 13

After being repaired and rebuilt, megatron, and everyone else, thought it best to keep him separate from the autobots. He had initially been staying at Autobot command, but it caused nothing but trouble. Just because he and the autobots were not currently fighting did not make them comrades. He had been moved to another facility and was meeting with Ultra magnus and alpha trion.

"your shuttle has been fully prepared and modified with your specifications"

Trion glared down at megatrons arm. In addition to rebuilding his armor and repairing his wounds, he had had his fusion cannon rebult and reattached as well. It gave trion an unnerved feeling.

"ultra magnus, ultra magnus!" came over the comms

"what is it Blaster?"

"Hound reports that the decepticons are mobilizing in the sea of rust. He estimates them reaching the outskirts of Iacon by this time tomorrow"

"begin mobilizing our defenses immediately!"

"hold on magnus. Those are my forces, my followers. They are doing this because of me. Trion, do you have a video communicator, I should be able to end this pointless campaign before it starts."

"that doesn't sound like the megatron I know" magnus rowned

"true. The best thing about this change of mine is continuously catching you silly autobots off guard"

"be grateful magnus, usually an autobot that megtaron catches off guard ends up on the scrap heap" trion smirked

Megatron accessed the video screen and entered his decepticon frequency codes. In the sea of rust, at an abandoned village, the decepticon horde had settled and prepaired for the attack the next day. There were in fact not a whole lot of them, few more than hundred actual warriors. The rest of their forces and their real strength was their large number of constructicon drones, which could combine into devastator units. In the villages main building, the last of the decepticon commanders devised their strategy.

"obsidian, strika, you both have done well with managing the decepticons, or whats left of them, here on cybertron since we left" starscream waved nonchalantly

"thank you starscream, it was our pleasure to finally serve the cause in such an influential way"

"yes friends, I am sorry that you couldn't shine during the war itself. Your brilliant military prowess would have been a greta asset"

Obisisan glanced annoyed towards his bulky partner and sparkmate. Every word starscream spoke had a sarcastic and passive tone, even if spoken with truth. Even soundwave, who stood silently in the corner and had known starscream for so long, couldn't tell the difference between his comrades sincerity and contempt.

"it is a 40% chance that autobots have already spotted our approach" soundwave reported

"it makes no difference, we prepaired poised to strike. The autobot forces are stretched thin across the planet due to these natural disasters and our own staged uprisings. That, plus the fact that optimus prime and his best have left cybertron, means that our chances our even greater"

"the autobots will still give us great opposition. It is still their capital city" stika argued

"let them, our forces are true warriors. No matter how many decepticons may fall, we will still be able to overwhelm them with the devastators"

"there will still be other autobots. Once we take Iacon, they will rally to retake it" soundwave adds

"they will try, once I…ur we control the capital, we will have the resources necessary to defeat the autobots and cement our hold over all of cybertron"

"and have it ready for megatron, once returns" obsidian adds

"yes, of course…"

"starsceram, we have a mega level transmission incoming"

"mega level, but that could only be…"

Soundwave quickly runs to the console and access the transmission. After few seconds, megatrons fully repaired and bright grey face fills the screen. The other decepticons, and a reluctant starscream, all bow.

"attention decepticons I megatron, order you to cease your march on iacon"

"what!?" they all shouted

"you cannot be serious!" starsceram shrieks

"you heard me starscream. I am in iacon now, with the autobots. I am ordering a ceasefire between our factions. A greater threat to cybertron has presented itself and I am aiding the…"

"after all the slag we have been through to bring the decepticons back together…back to strength, on your own damn orders!"

"this doesn't make any sense" obsidian whispers to strika

"I am and you will do as I say"

"we will not! This is some kind of autobot trick to stall for time. Megatron, the real megatron, would never side with the autobots for any reason. He would stop at nothing to see them ruined and cybertron in our control. if you were really megatron, you would have come to us and joined us in conquest"

"if I were there starscream, I would be squeezing the life out of your spark"

"a well-made copy, but we are not fools, we are the masters of deception. Any copy of megatron will die like the weak autobot they truly are, and if that really is you megatron, they you have clearly either gone soft or insane, either way, you are no longer of use to the decepticons. I will lead the decepticons to victory and glory"

"you will die by my hand you traitorous…"

Starscream blasted the screen with his laser and turned to the others.

"starscream, my scans indicate that thought it was an autobot transmitter, it was megatrons code and energy signature being transmitted" soundwave spoke

"as I said, it is either a trick or former leader has abandoned us"

Soundwave was conflicted, confused and even hurt. He had always believed in the decepticon cause, and mostly in megtaron himself. Megtraon represented strength, resolve and the superiority of dominiation. He was loyal and had followed megatron for thousands of years. This seemed so wrong, so different. Something wasn't right.

"decpeticons, our resolve must be stronger now more than ever. We must stay true to the way of the decpetiocns and the beliefs that the true megatron stood for"

"'but starscream, what if…"

Soundwaves protest was interrupted by starscreams laser barrel leveling with his head.

"are you sure you wish to take this course soundwave, old friend. It is not advisable to abandon our cause now" starscream alternated between scowls and smirks.

After a long tense standoff, soundwave finally backs down and steps back into the corner. Back in iacon, megatron was throwing a tantrum at the response his second-in-command had given him. Finally he calmed down and took a deep breath.

"it seems I must join you on the battle field tomorrow. I hope my presence dissuade my decepticons from their attack. Primus help us if starscream wills his way into their ears and they attack regardless. I may have crossed many line sin my life, battered or killed my underlings for various reason, but the idea of going into battle against warriors so loyal that after years they still rose to the cause, over such a pointless misunderstanding, it is a situation that is cannot even fathom or stomach"

"I never expected such sentiment from you megatron"

"you will not have to fight alone"

Their attention was called to the other primes, who had entered to see what all the commotion was about. To trions glee, his brothers onyx prime and micronus prime had joined them.

"if your presence will not sway them, Im sure ours will" prima smiled

"indeed" megatron cocked a brow

The sun rose over the horizon as the decepticons marched in mass through the open landscape east of Iacon. As soon as they set sight on the city, countless constructicon drones began combining into scores of massive devastator units. At the front, starscream and the 3 other commanders stood upon a mobile command platform and as they drew closer, they were met with a horrific sight.

Light from the rising sun shined on the golden city of Iacon. At its eastern border, the assembled autobots stood ready for battle. But, it was at the front of their force that their true strength stood. Astride biomechanical steeds that quintus prime and alchemist prime had combined their powers to create, the assembled primes waited to charge their foes. Micronus, however, sat on onyxs back and nexus had separated into his five separate components, who each rode a steed. Even alpha trion, who had long only wielded a quill, once again stood ready for battle. Prima, who had prepared a heroic and dramatic speech for the enemy was cut off when Megatron, who stood beside the autobots and primes, suddenly stepped forward.

"starscream, this is your last chance to walk away and spare yourself and these loyal decepticons a horrible death"

Across the battlefield, starscream swelled with so many emotions; hatred, fear, betrayal and confusion.

"the…the primes. It's true, the rumors from out of iacon are true" obsidian and strika looked on is shock.

"perhaps a strategic withdrawal would be better move, for ourselves at least" strika whispered back"

Unfortunately, starscream had verheard the comment and as he angrily turned to the pair of generals, his eye was caught by the communications officer looking uncharacteristically spastic.

"it…it is megatron, but how why. The autobots and the 13. He's our true leader but…I don't understand! I DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Soundwaves mechanical voice cracked and wheezed.

The series of astronomically inconceivable events had caused the emotionless bot to suffer a serious mental breakdown. He was simply unable to comprehend what was happening.

"you are worthless, all of you!"

Starscream swatted the incapacitated bot over the edge of the platform and to the ground below. When he turned back around, obsidian and strika had already taken their leave. His rage then built as he saw that the presence of the primes was causing many of the decepicons to flee. He turned back towards his enemies, specifically megatron.

"you, YOU, I have lived in your shadow for eons. Been beaten and kicked around by you. Finally when the decepticons follow me and victory is in our grasp, you…you…KILL THEM, KILL THEM ALL!"

The devastators and what remained of the decpeticons charged forward madly. Prima narrowed his eyes, knowing and regretting that the day would see much bloodshed. He held the star saber up high then thrust it frontward.

"CHAAAAARGE!"


	15. Chapter 14

The Primes stampeded forward on their steeds with megatron and the autobots charging in their vehicle modes behind them. Across the battle field, the decepticons and the horde of massive devastators drew nearer and nearer, though starscream had let his platform linger from the front lines. Though he was being cautious, the battle cries of the charging primes did send a wave of fear through his spark. The sun was blocked out by massive clouds of dust and ash kicked up by the advancing forces. They drew closer and closer until they finally clashed in an explosion of dust, metal and fire. The autobots smashed into the decepticons and collided with the forest of devastator legs, causing some of them to tumble to the ground. As the front lines engaged, nexus primes five fragments jumped from their steeds and combined in midair and tackled two devastators, the force of the attack shattering one and sent the other sprawling, with nexus landing atop it and pummeling it with punches. The primes all took on the devastators, slashing, bashing and blasting at the titans; their steeds gave them the added height to land more critical blows. Megatron took pause to survey the battle. A veil of dust surrounded and spread through the war zone. Autobots and decepticons battled and scrambled along the ground like bugs amongst the stomping and rampaging devastators. The primes rode through the battle field like mythical heroes, felling the giants and sending them crashing to the ground. Megatron was suddenly sent sprawling by a blast to his back. He pushed through the deep pain to get up, already knowing who had fired on him.

"you have no idea how long I have waited to do that" starscream smiled as he descended from the dust above.

"well then, now that your life long goal of shooting me in the back is fulfilled, allow me to end what is left of your miserable life!"

The two engaged in a fierce duel. To both of their surprise, they seemed closely matched; megatron had strength and stamina while starscream had speed and precision. Each traded landing powerful blows on the other, spitting insults all the while.

"you outdated piece of slag, I knew you were weak, couldn't hold the wait of leading the decpetiocns!"

"and you could, don't make me laugh starscream, the idea of you leading is just bad comedy."

"at least I didn't become a pathetic autobot"

"I am no autobot. Do you not see what is happening, cybertron is dyeing, and the 13 have returned after an eternity, the fate of our whole race is at stake. I won't let cybertron die for a meaningless victory, and I won't let you threaten it either"

Megatron finally landed a critical blow on starscream and the seeker fell to the ground in pain. Megatron raised his cannon and prepared to finish his former second in command. Starscream managed to activate his thrusters and shot into the air at the last second, kicking up dust in megatrons face as he fired in vain. Once his vision was clear he searched the skies desperately. He finally caught sight of starscream, whose attention was elsewhere. As he clutched his deep wound, starscream glared down at the battle, his eyes were fixed on the primes decimating his apparently invincible forces. He glared with hatred at the fossils who had robbed him of his victory. His eye was suddenly caught by one such prime. Alpha trion was had been knocked from his steed and was struggling to get up, clearly being the frailest of the group. Starscream grinned.

"you, you old fool. For centuries you have haunted iacon like a ghost. The autobots, and even optimus prime himself, would not be what they were if not for you. I have lost much, but if I achieve only one thing on this day, it will be ending your wretched existence"

Megatron saw as starscream wearily raised his arm blaster, fighting for the strength to keep it up. From his angel he could see where he was aiming; he knew what he finally had to do. In the blink of an eye he flung up his arm and fired a full blast from his fusion cannon. Starscerams grin deepened to that of a mad man as he prepared to fire when he saw a purplish light in the corner of his eye, he had only just turned to see it when it struck him. The blast lit the cloudy sky and from the explosion starscreams wrecked, smoky body fell.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

He screamed as he fell uncontrollably to the ground. He smashed hard and could barely think through the pain, his only thought being the same one he had been thinking for the past four million years-hatred for megatron. Suddenly there was the sound of wrenching, crushing metal. He looked up to see a devastator above him, its leg and chest having just been damaged by the primes. The titan fell backwards uncontrollably and starscreams spark sunk as its shadow fell over him like the hand of unicron himself. He let out a final scream of fear and defiance as the giant came crushing down on him and was silenced forever by the thunder of its crash. Starsceram was no more. The battle field was silent; the last of the devastators had fallen and the decepticons had either fled or fallen. Megatron just looked about with a distant gaze. He caught sight of ultra magnus and the two shared a respectful nod. Megatron looked at his own hands, stained with energon, and seemed somewhat relieved that it was starscreams and only starscream energon that stained them. The autobots and primes all began to regroup and the dust gradually began to lift, giving them all a better look at the battlefield. Much like them, megatron himself felt distaste for the pointless carnage and death. It was the first time he had ever looked upon a battle field and felt so. Perhaps starscream was right, perhaps he was changed.

"lord megatron!"

All eyes and guns turned to a bulky shape approaching through the dust. Finally it came into view; it was obsidian and strika, each had one of soundwaves arms around their shoulders as they dragged his limp body.

"please do not fire megatron, it is us, your still-loyal followers" obsiadian groaned

"soundwave, is he?"

"he lives, my lord" strika responds

Megatron sighed in relief that his most loyal and dependable soldier had survived. Ultra magnus dispatched most of the autobots to begin cleaning up the area and securing Iacon.

"hey, somethings wrong here" came a voice

All eyes turned to where nexus primes separated components stood, looking about nervously. It was then that everyone realized that there were only four of them. Though none of them knew his name, the largest member who formed nexus' torso, was missing. Everyone began look for where the part prime had gone to.

Megatron looked back down at cybertron as his shuttle broke orbit. Though the issue of the bot known as Heatwave had not yet been resolved but he could wait no longer. He still had his promise of warning optimus to keep. He was happy that out of loyalty and understanding the situation, soundwave obsidian and strika had chosen to join him. They continued to insist and prod that this was all just a well-planned ruse to fool the autobots. He grew tired of their low opinion of his character, of his ability to rise above his own past ambitions and short sightedness. He wished they could have seen the core like he had, felt what he had felt in its light. All he knew was that he had to make all speed to reach optimus before Megatronus Prime could. Finally he locked onto the signal of lockdowns ship and went into hyperspace.

Optimus opened his eyes and found himself moving, acting but not on his own, it felt like virtual reality. He was in a strange place, but as he looked closer, I looked like cybertron, but not civilized or even devolved like when he was younger. The planet was in a primeval state. He was surprised to see himself standing among the 13. They were all standing outside a fortress-like palace. He recognized all the other primes

"I earned it, I had it made, I used it against unicron and I shall keep it, and none of you are going to take it from me!"

He turned to see a massive bot clad in dark armor. For a moment he thought it was megatron, their overall appearance was similar, though compared to this being, megatron looked like a protoform. From its appearance, optimus deduced, based on the old images alpha trion had shown him, that this was in fact the prime who had betrayed his brother and sided with unicron. The one who had murdered solus prime. This was the Fallen. He had a bulky yet well-proportioned body. Optimus couldn't help but notice that his helmet seemed to bare more than a passing resemblance to the decepticon symbol itself. His most distinguishing feature was a monster of a weapon, a massive blaster, a cannon, affixed to his right arm. It practically radiated with energy.

"no one is trying to take it brother, we are simply reasoning whether or not it is still needed" solus spoke

The eyes thru which optimus was seeing turned towards the female prime. He couldn't believe it, the glamour and elegance she displayed as a spark ghost seemed just as prevalent in her time alive.

"there is always a need for weapons. Conflict is always a possibility"

"I must agree with him there" liege maximo spoke up

"I suppose I do to on that matter. But a weapon so powerful and destructive should only be used in the most dire of circumstances, not just when you want to destroy something" prima frowned

"you dare accuse me of recklessness prima!"

"ha, our world bears the scars of your violent outbursts brother" nexus adds

"ah, now I see, this is not about the requiem blaster, this is about me is it"

"no you fool, not everything is about you" prima groaned

Just as the two primes were about to come to blows, all eyes turned to optimus, or to whomever he was seeing through the eyes of. He saw gesturing of hands and movement by could not hear what they were saying. He appeared to have the honored attention of all the 13, even the fallen.

"you can all "deliberate" all you like, but I will not part from MY weapon"

The fallen stalked out from the palace and into the landscape with the others looking on is concern, all save for maximo.

"Megatronus, wait!" solus called out

Before optimus could comprehend what she had just said, his body jolted and he awoke, finding himself in his quarters on the Hand. He had been in recharge; dreaming, yet he knew it was more than that; his fingers tickled, his head athrobbed and his spark acked. If he were an organic he would be sweating. It was real, or was at one point in time. It was a memory, a clue, possibly from the matrix, or even primus. He suddenly remembered, to his horror, the last thing he heard.

"megatronus, it can't be, it…"

He started to reach for alpha trions journal to investigate when…

"OPTIMUS!"

"oh my oh, uh what is it?"

"the planet you had us head for, we're there" star saber reported

Optimus lost all thought of his dream or the worries it brought. The only thing in his mind was Elita-one. Finding her once again, just as vector prime had said he would. Centuries of ar and hardship ahd taken its toll on him. He was a stoic and aloof leader, but he could not hold back the excitement of once again being with the femme he loved. To see her, feel her, hear her voice again, the warmth of their sparks together. He logged, practically ran through the halls until he reached the bridge.

"excellent work, set the ship down"

"Aaaah prime, is that a good idea, that didn't work so well last time"

Everyones minds suddenly turned to silverbolt.

"this is different, we aren't looking for a prime here"

"Wait, then what are we…"

"Optimus, this is strange, but we are getting an autobot signal from the planet"

"you are, good, head straight for it"

"Yes sir"

The ship easily made planet fall and landed close to the source of the signal. Optimus was ready to drive off on his own to find who he hoped to find but had to fight to keep his composure. He and the rest of the autobots save for star saber, maccadam, brains and bulkhead headed out. They made their way quickly to the aurobot signal but when they reached it, optimus' spark sank they transformed and looked in despair at a wrecked autobot craft. The shuttle was not as big as their but enough for a small crew. The sight of the apparently long wrecked ship caused optimus to lose hope of ever seeing elita again. He reasoned that this was her resting place and she no doubt died in the crash. Just as he was about to drop to his knees, the sound of energy charging surrounded them. From multiple hidden points around them, small sentry blasters appeared and trained on them. The autobots drew their weapons, preparing for the attack, but none came. After sitting menacingly idle for a few minutes, the guns turned away tucked back away into their hiding places. From within the wreck, footsteps could be heard approaching.

"if the sentries didn't fire, than that means they read autobots signatures, and I would be very happy at that as I have not seen any other autobots in a long…"

Appearing in the hole in the ships hull was a bulky yet still slim and feminine metallic pink bot. She stood nearly as tall as optimus and certain elements of their armor looked similar as well. She cut herself off mid-sentence as she caught sight of optimus. After long minutes of just looking at each other in shock they started a slow walk forward which turned into a full sprint. As they drew closer, they leapt into each others arms and wrapped themselves in a passionate embrace. Neither wanted to let go, their chests pressed together, each feeling the warmth of the others spark. She pulled away just enough to place a loving kiss upon his face plate. He leaned his head down to touch their foreheads together.

"elita, I…I thought I would never see you again"

"I know, I knew…I knew you would find me. He told me you would"

"vector prime?"

"yes, he was the one who saved me"

"holy scrap, is that who I think it is?" jazz points dumbfounded

"oh it certainly is" ratchet smiles

"saved you from what, the crash?" optimus pulls away

"the attack that caused it"

"attack, by who, decepticons?"

"no…"

"elita! Im sorry to interrupt" ironhide came running over

"its fine, it's been a long time old man" she smiled

"aye, you to dear, tell me where is chromia, I have missed her for so long. She must be keeping this place ship shape" he smiled back

Elitas smile faded and she broke from optimus' arms

"ill…ill take you to her, please follow me"

The tone and change in her gave ironhide a sinking feeling in his chest. He and the others followed her in and through the ruined shuttle. As they came upon an opening on the other side, another bot suddenly jumped out from the shadows.

"whats going on, are we under attack, whats happened, whose…" she paused

Before them was red, black and blue female autobot.

"its alright, their autobots,and more so. Everyone, this is Road Rage"

"oh well, we're getting rescued, that is nice. So what's going on?"

"im…im taking them to see the others"

"oh, I see"

Road rage stepped aside, head down and let the other pass before joining the back of the group. As they exited the shuttle into the wooded terrain outside, elita stopped, stepped aside and gestured for them to step forward. The look on her face was now one of pure regret and optimus knew what was coming. They were all met with a horrific sight; 6 marked graves in the ground. Ironhide, unable to speak or even think, staggered over to the first grave, which bore the name of his blue plated spark mate. He dropped to his knees in despair and started to beat the ground angrily. The other autobots gathered behind him solemnly and looked to the other graves which bore the names of the other members of Elitas team; Firestar, Greenlight, Lancer, Moonracer and Flareup. The legendary female autobots team, now all but wiped out.

"elita, what happened?" he turned to her

"We were going to return to cybertron, we were attacked by something we couldn't see, like a shadow against the dark of space. It pummeled the ship, tearing it apart until it finally erupted in fire. I remember everything going white. I thought I was dead. Then, I opened my eyes and saw him, vector prime. We were in the debris, floating through space, but were in some sort of…energy bubble. He brought me here to where the ship crashed. He said it was all he could do for me and that if I stayed her…if I waited and believed in his words, you would find me one day. But I…."

"how?" ironhide growled

"what…"

"how could he save you but not her. How could this blasted barely a protoform survive and not a warrior like her!" he jabbed an accusing finger at road rage.

"ironhide!" optimus growled

It was enough to quiet ironhide and he returned to his grieving. Road rage seemed hurt and guilty over the word and jazz and bumblebee comforted her. Elita bent down and put her hand on ironhides shoulder.

"I…ask myself that question every day. I come up with a dozen answers but do know the real one. Road rage only survived because she was in a stasis pod when the ship was attacked and crashed. Chromia was the best lieutenant and greatest friend I ever had"

"it wasn't supposed to be like this. We were supposed to die together, side by side, on the battle field. Not like this, not alone, galaxies apart" he sobbed

The other decided to leave him be and went back into the ship. In a short time everything was explained to rescuees and the autobots were packing up any valuable equipment and transporting it back to the Hand.

"psst, hey elita"

"yes jazz?"

"what's the deal with the girl there. She seems sweet, I mean she's still a soldier, but she is so dang nice, look at her and bee there, look like their practically already going out. How'd she get a name like that"

"oh well, I figured it would come up eventually. Road rage has personality disorder associated with her alt mode"

"come again?" override asked

"when she trsnaforms into her alt mode, a short circuit in her brain module occurs, resulting in an altered personality to be dominant while she is in her alt mode"

"whoa, what kind of personality?"

"let's just say it's how she got her name. She becomes a snarling speed demon with other contempt for anyone else on the road"

"I think I'm going to like her" override smiled

After all the autobots save for optimus, elita and ratchet had returned to the ship, ironhide finally made his return to the group.

"are you alright old friend?"

"Im gonna have to be prime, im going ta have to be"

"if you wish it ironhide, we can take her body back to cybertron with us for a proper ceremony" optimus offered

"no…no, if this is where she died, this is where she would have wanted to be laid"

"well said old friend"

The four made their way to the Hand and it took off for parts yet unknown. Optimus and elita walked down the hall. They stopped in front of optimus' quarters.

" well commander, we are currently short on quarters, but you are more than welcome to share mine" optimus smiled

"oh, what a gentlemen" she smiled back

**So, sorry about how short the battle part was, I intended it to be this big event that lasted for a chapter or two. Shows I still aint the best writer. Wish I know how to be more detailed and extend it.**


	16. Chapter 15

Things for the autobots were not so bad of late. They had found most of the 13 and despite the tight schedule they were on, they decided to take a short time to unwind and get themselves in order. Unknown to all but optimus and solus, the most dangerous and difficult part of their quest lied before them. The autobots mingled and had fun while they could. On the bridge, road rage was alone on scanner duty. She was glad to be alone and away from the others. Though she interacted well with the others and had seamlessly become `part of the crew, she felt nothing but embarrassment as the others had just had a first-hand look at her less friendly characteristics. The autobots had decided to have a race in vehicle mode through the halls of the ship. She had decided to join in, and inadvertently revealed how she gets when she drives. The halls were now decorated with dents and craters, many in the shape of her fellow autobots, who she had run into them. She never remembered her condition when she transformed, it seemed normal to her, she just happened to get a little more aggressive. It was only ever after the results of her actions that it comes back to light. She hated that she suffered from the rare condition, especially when there was no known treatment. Suddenly bumblebee popped up next to her. He was perhaps the autobot she had grown the closest to since coming aboard. He just stood there with a wide smile. Just as she was about to ask what was wrong, he suddenly jumped up and gave her a big kiss on her faceplate. She sat embarrassed and dumbfounded as he smiled and ran out of the bridge like a yellow blur. Her brain unit practically overloaded as she tried to comprehend what just happened. They had gotten along well, she did think he was cute, but she didn't imagine him just jumping the gun like that; that things would move so quickly.

Bumblebee was in his quarters bouncing a ball against the wall. After the incident with the race he just wanted to relax, but what was on his mind was road rage. It had been a long time since he had thought about a femme that much. Sure, he thought certain ones were cute, especially the ones that were in the crew; arcee was now gone anyway but rumor was she was in a relationship with springer. Then there was override, though she seemed like too much for bee to handle, plus she was rumored to have a "thing" with rodmius. Elita-One was with optimus so she was in no man's land as far as that went. He was happy that he and road rage seemed to hit it off well. He was trying to think of a way to make the leap from friend to more when there was a knock at his door. He went to open and found road rage standing there with her hands behind her back and looking playful.

"hey road rage, what's up?"

Suddenly her face plate slid away to reveal a girlish grin.

"whoa! I dint know you had a mout…"

She suddenly took hold of his little shoulders and pulled him closer to press her lips to his in a long kiss. She pulled away smirking and before he could even compose a response, or wipe the stunned look off his face, she took off down the hall giggling. He stood there in shock until the thought to go talk to her crossed his mind. He headed the direction she went. He couldn't find her; the only one he passed was maccadam. He decided to give up and talk to her later. After a while he came to the recreation room when he noticed her entering from the opposite end. They caught eyes and could easily tell that the other felt awkward. They eventually made their way over to each other but neither knew how to start the conversation.

"maybe we should talk, y'know, about what happened"

"yeah, I think so, what you did was pretty bold and more than a little out of line I think"

"wait, what I did, you kissed me"

"I certainly did not, you came to the bridge and kissed me then ran off"

"I so didn't, you came to my quarters…"

"I am a lady, I would never…"

"and kissed me. You removed your mouth plate and kissed me!"

"I did nothing of the sort! And how did you know about my mouth plate. I haven't removed it while on this ship, I haven't even at all in solar cycles"

The two continued to dispute, unaware that elita-one was within ear shot and was listening in. After a few more minutes she left and headed back to hers and optimus' quarters. When she went in, optimus was sitting back in his chair trying to think. Unseen to her, solus was also in the room over by the table that held the prime relics.

"well optimus, it seem something about your ship breeds chaos"

"what now?" he sighed

"road rage and bumblebee were having a little lovers tiff"

"really?" he was surprised

"yeah, apparently both of them kissed the other at different points but both are denying they did it"

Optimus put his hand to his face and groaned.

"what?" she responded

"not this again. There have been none stop pranks, misunderstandings and arguments based on conflicting stories, people being accused of things they claim to not have done. There has been nothing but disharmony and I am 100% sure that maccadam is the cause of it all. I swear he is a shape shifter"

"haha, shape shifter. One of the 13 was a shapeshifter, right, the first one?"

"what do you mean?"

"yeah I remember when I looked through trions journal reading that"

Elita went to the table to get the book, passing right through solus.

"wooo, just got a chill"

It was then that optimus realized he had neglected to somehow introduce elita to solus; he had simply mentioned her presence in passing. She started flipping through the pages of the journal. Optimus was confused; he had only read the journal entry by entry, and in the short time she had already read through it enough to know more than him. He looked inquisitively at solus, who only crossed her arms amusedly.

"here it is_; Amalgamous Prime was the 10__th__ of us created. The prankster of our brotherhood, though never cruelly so. His constant fun-poking was both very annoying and great light relief, even as it pushed at the comfort zones of the others, with the more serious of us sometimes taking it very badly. Bright and cheeky, Amalgamous was never still and, given half a chance, would be into anything to figure out how it worked and what it would do. He lacked the seriousness and focus of a true fighter, although his unpredictability was an asset sometimes. He was not the most forward-thinking or bright of the sparks among the Primes, but he was gentle at heart. The typical younger brother to us all. His artifact was the Transformation Cog, from which all later T-Cogs would be modeled, making him the first actual transformer. He was the first of the shifters, able to morph his body or any part of it into any shape or form he chose. He could even make himself appear as others. His normal form was in a constant state of flux. The archetypal shifter, he never lingered where he wasn't welcome but simply moved on, not taking anything personally, not holding grudges or remembering deeds. His memory slipped as easily as his shape, although it had an odd way of suddenly sharpening when something important happened."_

Optimus took the book as soon as she was done reading and looked it over himself. He slammed the book on the bench, fell back in his chair and slapped his face with his hand.

"oh for the sake of…I have been such a fool"

He turned to see solus smiling with amusement.

"it is about time you figured it out optimus. It would seem that like the 13, the autobots need a womens common sense"

"what is it optimus?" elita asked, confused

Optimus had called all the autobots into the rec room for a meeting. Optimus looked around made sure everyone on board was there.

"autobots, I have called you all here due to a surprised revelation. One of the 13 is actually among us, and has been this whole time, hidden"

Murmurs and suspicious glares broke out among the autobots. Bumble bee and road rage shared looks of regret over their harsh words to each other.

"it is he who has been causing all these incidents of…mistaken identity and conflicts, for he is a shifter"

"why would he start all the trouble, and more importantly why stay here in secret" ratchet scowled

"perhaps he should answer that himself, maccadam…"

All eyes turned to the stout bot, who was at the back of the room grinning.

"or should I say Amalgamous Prime"

Macadam walked forward as did optimus and they met at the center of the room. Suddenly maccadams form began to break away and shift before reforming into his true shape. The new form was like a mass of metal parts and pure energy. It had an overall humanoid shape, though it hunched over a bit and had an extra set of arms which reached around from its back. Aside from a pair of bright eyes, it was hard to distinguish his facial features. He stood a bit shorter than optimus, yet his form fluctuated like breaths or a beating heart, constantly changing its height. It was quite an odd shape for a prime; the oddest they had encountered thus far.

"Amalgamous Prime?"

"of course dear optimus, I am amused and surprised that it took you this long to figure me out"

"yes, well…"

Optimus glanced over at elita shamefully, subtly hinting at her involvement in the discovery. Amalgamous chuckled before noticing some of the less cheerful looks he was getting.

"so, what was up with all the trouble you caused?"

"autobots, lighten up, nothing I did was with wrathful or ill content. Was there anything I did that was terribly horrible rather than pretty funny"

Many of the autobots went to or wanted to say something but as they thought, they couldn't really come up with a decent argument.

"don't feel so bad optimus, it even took solus awhile to figure it out" he smiled

Solus frowned; she hated to admit that it had taken her so long to see through her own brothers disguise. She thought she would have known him well enough to recognize the familiar behavior and mannerisms. Inside, Amalgamous was laughing; the way quintus and solus had looked at him; the looks on their faces, he loved it.

"Well. I've had my fun, and then some and it would seem I've worn out my welcome. So optimus, if you could give me my fast pass, I'll be off to reunite and have some fun with my brothers" he smiled

Optimus nodded for elita to go retrieve one of the space bridge orbs. As everyone waited, some of the autobots started talking amongst themselves, mostly reconciling and apologizing over the accusations and arguments spawned by Amalgamous' shenanigans. At the other side of the room, bee and road rage stood side by side at the sink, scrubbing their faces furiously after realizing who they had both actually kissed. They soon started laughing over the whole situation and though they hadn't actually kissed each other, they felt like they were now closer. Elita finally returned and gave the prime the orb.

"well, farewell all, and good luck with the rest of your journey. Don't have too much fun without me" he smiled before vanishing in a burst of light.

Back on cybertron, the primes and autobots were dealing with their own problems as they searched for the missing fragment of nexus prime. Autobots had been combing Iacon and the surrounding cities for him. The primes and autobot command came together to debate the issue.

"There are no signs of him, which points to one conclusion"

"someone doesn't want him found, which means he was abducted"

"we must find nexus' fragment…"

Prima turned towards his other four fragments, who were the most worried.

"do you not know how to locate him, are you not able to sense his presence?"

"after so long of being separated and spread so far, we lost the ability to sense each other from great distances. If we are in close enough proximity we may be able to" one spoke up.

"brothers, why do you wear such glum face plates!" Amalgamous called out

All eyes turned to the young prime as he entered the chamber. He immediately bounded over and hugged the four fragments of his favorite brother.

"hold on, isn't one of you missing?"

"that is the issue we are dealing with brother, he was recently abducted. You may have learned that if you had any ounce of seriousness in you" prima lectured

"now now prima, our brother has only just returned home, and is welcome. He didn't know what was going on" trion spoke, prima just rolled his eyes.

"magnus, magnus! We just got reports from one of our patrols. In the shady part of south Iacon, there were reports of an unconscious bot matching nexus primes fragments description…"

"for the last time, his name is heatwave!" one of the other fragments interrupted

"ah, well yes, matching heatwaves description. There were also noted sightings of longarm in that area too"

"so, the decepticons took him"

"it could have been a plot by megatron, he could have planned this from the beginning"

"perhaps, but we have seen that the decepticons were willing to turn against him. I feel like we can't see the full picture here yet"

"Perhaps, but we must rescue our brother regardless"

"that will be difficult, it is hard for autobot patrols to do our job in such a seedy area. If we go in there in force, we may make the situation worse"

"we will march in there and they will yield him to us or…" prims started

"no prima, you may be proud and strong, but you have been gone a long time and things have changed. You may think as a prime you can walk in there and everyone should bow to you, but it just isn't like the old days. If any of us go there, we could cause more harm than good, even unnecessary death" trion spoke up.

"hmmm, you may be right, brother. So, what can we do"

"I suggest an undercover infiltration operation" ultra magnus spoke up

"what do you mean"

"rodimus, kup, you two have gone to that area on occasion correct?"

The two stood in awkward silence.

"yeeees…"

"you and arcee will go in under the guise of looking to unwind and stake out the area"

"we will go as well" one of the fragments spoke up

"I don't think that is such a…"

"he is our brother, even more than yours, he is a very part of us, and we aren't even autobots, so we will draw less attention"

"I'll go to, to keep an eye on things at least. My popular disguise may have some pull in that area" Amalgamous said he transformed back in maccadam.

"Alright, the plan is set, let us prepare, we will move into position in three megacycles"


	17. Chapter 16

**Sorry it's been so long since I posted, but don't worry, this is a fanfic I plan to see through to the end.**

Across space, Megatron and his loyal followers were on their way to rendezvous with lockdowns ship. Megatron was not only desperate to get there faster so he could aid optimus, but also because his warriors on that ship had sent out a message over decepticon frequencies. Apparently lockdown had assumed command in his absence and he would make the bounty hunter pay for that.

"lord megatron?"

"what is it soundwave?"

"I suggest you get some recharge. You have not done so since we left cybertron"

"I am fine soundwave, I am concentrating on our mission, you and the others do so"

Soundwave gave one more glance before he left the cockpit. Megatron knew what it was. He had finally made his troops realize that he was honest about his intensions and new mission, the last thing he wanted happened; their opinion of his changed. His loyal troops now saw in a different less glamourous light and it truly hurt him a bit, especially when there were so few of them left. He closed his eyes and remembered, visualized, the last time they were all together. It was the war council for the last battle of the war. Starscream, soundwave and shockwave were there of course, as well as strika and obsidian. There was also high ranking decepticons like skywarp, thundercracker, and slipstream as well as the head of espionage, Reflector. There were also leaders representing each of the decepticon sub-groups, such as Onslaught for the combaticons, Ccrapper for the constructicons and so on. They planned out what they expected would be the battle that would win them the war, but it turned out to be what lost them the war. Many of the decepticons died that day. The constructicons however abandoned the battle. They had been rendered irrelevant by the creation of constructicon drones and their ability to mimic the ability to form devastator units. Obviously feeling betrayed and neglected, they abandoned the cause and shanghaied the massive decepticon Tidal Wave. Using his battle ship alt mode, they left cybertron to become pirates. Shockwave had left the battle to attempt to infiltrate Iacon, but had apparently failed as he was never heard from again.

Suddenly megatron felt the room shake, and his body began to go numb. He started to see waves of energy and fire flow throughout the room, and yet they did not touch or affect anything, as if they were only in his mind.

"megatron" a deep voice resonated

"who is there!?"

A shadowy figure appeared in the glass windows reflection.

"do you not remember me, your one true master"

"I serve no master!"

"oh you don't, you have always served me. Ever since the day I came to you all those many years ago"

The reality before megatrons eyes began to warp and fade into a new one, or rather an old one. He saw his young self, all shiny, young and naïve. He was built as a laborer but had chosen to fight in the kaon gladiatorial pits in a show of defiance. He didn't even have a true name; he was only ever called by the designation D-16. He remembered this day, it was the one that shaped him and every day he had lived since. The full extent of cybertrons corrupt leading classes were becoming all the clearer to him, and it pained him. If there was one thing fighting in the arena had taught him, it was that you had to fight for what you wanted. As he sat forlorn in one of the gladiator equipment rooms, a flash of energy appeared and a dark form materialized on the surface of the wall, megatronus prime, though he didn't know that at the time.

"you are strong, and you have the power to change this world"

"who…who are you?"

"an ally, one who has watched you grow into a strong warrior"

"strength means nothing here"

"strength is everything! But you need a title, a name that will reflect that always"

"what name could ever give me such influence?"

"the same name as the most powerful warrior in existence"

"unicron?!"

"no, of his mightiest and most powerful follower, the herald of his chaos, megatronus"

Megatron seemed honored, then after a moment of thinking, sneered.

"I will not live my life by someones leses name!"

The fallen growled in frustration at his defiance. Megatron took another rmoment to lat the idea seep in.

"megatronus…megatronu…megatron. Megatron. I am megatron!"

"very well "megatron", go and change cybertron, change it by force"

"but, how?"

"that is up to you, but remember this, sometimes, decepticon is the better part of valor…deception…decept…"

With that the figures began to fade away, his voice still echoing, and leaving a distorted imprint of its helmet outlined upon the metal of the wall. Megatron stepped forward and ran his fingers along the outline.

"thank you, whoever you are, and this, this shall be the symbol with which I shall change cybertron. Hmm, deception…decepticon"

The images began to fog and dissipate as the fallens image returned to megatrons eyes.

"you tricked me, manipulated me"

"I told you only what you needed to hear to act, and act you must now, destroy the prime, ensure my victory!"

"never, I will not doom cybertron"

"you are my slave, u bare my very title, do as I command!"

"I am commanded by nobody!"

Megatronus reached out his hand and waves of fire and energy washed over meagtron.

"obey me!"

"never!"

Suddenly all was silence. Megatronus was gone, the pain, the visions, all gone. Megatron was more than a bit shaken. If this was the power the fallen prime could exhume from his prison, then he could wreak horrible chaos if freed.

"I must find optimus"

On lockdowns ship, the decepticons were in unrest. With megatron gone, lockdown and his new toadie, knockout, had taken control and the decepticons had no choice but to fall in line. They had no leader, no plan, and nowhere else to go so were forced to stay on board and thus take lockdowns orders. The decepticons were in the cargo bay debating what to do next. They had quickly grown tired of lockdowns attitude towards them and his intent to make them his new mercenary crew. They had been put to work maintaining his ship and equipment. They suddenly noticed an incoming ship was preparing to dock with them. In the control room, lockdown and knockout were enjoying their improved positions.

"I must say I never thought I would regret a deal more than this one" lockdown smirked

"yes, going to megatron may have been a bad move, but it is a moot point now" knockout smiled back

It was then that lockdown noticed that proximity warning on his console.

"what in the…a craft has docked with us, how did we not notice, why wasent I told by the others! Decepticons come in! respond, sixshot…cyclonus…slipsteam…waspinator, anybody!"

"I have a really bad feeling about this" knockout backed away

"shut up, I need to get the security systems up, knockout, make sure all passage ways that lead to the bridge are closed"

Lockdown was still looking at the screen when he realized there was but an earie silence in place of knockouts usual yammering. He suddenly noticed something reflecting in his screen, from behind him. He looked closer and saw that they were two narrowed but bright red eyes. After another moment the situation dawned on him.

"oh scrap"

He suddenly felt a large hand wrap around the back of his head and yank up out of his seat. He was held above the floor and turned around to face his assailent.

"megatron, welcome back" he smiled nervously

"I hear that you were looking to repurpose my troops" megatron glowered

Megatron had no time for either of them or their excuses; he had to find optimus prime, even faster now that the fallen was becoming more offensive. In short order, lockdown and knockout were "evicted" by way of the air lock and this ship was back to tracking the autobots. The two wayward cons were left alone to tumble and argue through the void.

In the most popular, yet most seedy bar in south iacon, the autobots had begun their search for heatwave. At a table in the corner rodimus, arcee and kup sat looking like ordinary bots looking to unwind. Arcee was cozying up to rodimus while kup was wearing his best "don't bug me" face.

"springer never hears a word about this" arcee grimaced

"same goes for override" rodimus responded

"shush the both of ya" kup scowled

He glanced across the room to a table where nexus primes other four fragments; Skyfall, Landquake, Breakaway and Topspin sat. Skyfall made the briefest of glances and nods to them before turning back away.

"blast it, where is that Amalgamous Prime, he should have been here in disguise by now" kup complained

Suddenly the door to the bar burst open and the prime, or rather his alias, Maccadam, strode in smiling.

"Maccadam!" practically the whole bar shouted.

He marched into the center of the room, starting conversations left and right and doing his part, distracting the patrons. Kup suddenly noticed a strange look come over the nexus prime bots. He quickly made his way over to them.

"you guys alright?"

"pain…it hurts"

"what?"

"he is close…we…he is being tortured, we feel his pain"

"how close, can you find him!?"

"yes" they all strained out in unison

They quickly hurried out and kup waved for rodimus and arcee to follow. He turned to Amalgamous, who understanding the situation, gave a straight faced nod and went about mingling so as to cover their abrupt exit. The group ran through the bad neighborhood until they came to a rundown warehouse. As they entered, they realized that the floor had collapsed down to the lower level. The carefully and quietly made their way down and as they moved through the sub level, the neared chamber where they could hear cries of pain. Nexus' other components had to fight to not cry out in pain as well. As the autobots peaked out, they could see heatwave chained to pillar in the falling apart chamber. Then they caught sight of another bot, the traitorous autobot Longarm. Just as kup was about to advise stealth and caution, rodimus jumped into the open angrily.

"longarm!"

He readied his energy bow when an unseen force suddenly sent him sprawling.

"blast it, you lot, stay hidden, when u get the chance, go get your brother. Arcee, let's do this!"

They both jumped out and were similarly knocked down. It was then that their assailant became visible. A bot clad in an additional layer of battle armor, a helmet with a skeletal face and a large sword.

"bludgeon! What rock did you crawl back out from under"

"no need to be so crude, kup"

They turned to longarm, whose voice and temperament seemed a bit off. Suddenly his head alone began to transform and shift into an alternate shape, with no true features save for one large red eye at its center.

"shockwave?!" kup spat

"you, what happened to strongarm?" rodimus demanded

"there was no strongarm, he was merely a cover I created. During the final battle between the autobots and decepticons, I made a play to infiltrate Iacon. I intended to take the city but my squad was outmatched and myself gravely wounded. I made the gamble to infiltrate iacon in a different sense. I had my body rebuilt based on autobot schematics and acted the part until the opportune time. That time was supposed to be when megatron returned and went on the offensive, but you discovered my attempts to hide the decepticons movements and it became necessary to withdraw."

"is he gonna just keep talking" rodmius whispered and was silenced by bludgeons sword to his neck

"Though the decepticons, have been defeated, for the moment at least, I have found new allies"

"you talking about this scrap heap. Well that's just peachy. Highest ranking con besides megs, and he's hiding in disguise, then runs away to join a nutcase" kup smirked

Bludgeon growled and kicked kup, before turning away and heading back towards heatwave.

"bludgeon and his associates are far more than that. They represent a very select group of bots. Fallen worshipers"

"by the allspark"

"yes, he and his comrades are disciples of the fallen prime, and are surprisingly powerful. They seemed like valuable allies indeed"

"and now, our masters will shall be done, with the death of this wretch, first combiner, the lesser prime, shall never rise again"

Just as bludgeon raised his sword to make the killing blow when four voices suddenly cried out in unison. Skyfall, Landquake, Breakaway and Topspin jumped from the shadows and with a combined attack, sent bludgeon flying across the chamber. As the four set about freeing heatwave, shockwave grew uncomfortable with the turn of events. He would not fare as well against a prime. He began to back out of the chamber.

"the odds seem to be changing for this scenario. I regret to admit that once again the more logical solution appears to…"

Shockwave was then silenced, permanently, as an energy arrow speared through the center of his eye and nailed his head to the wall behind him. His body tensed for a moment before going limp and remaining standing as the new wall decoration to the wrecked structure. Kup and arcee looked to rodimus, who smirked as he lowered his bow.

"decepticons, they always talk too much"

Bludgeon regained his senses and charged the autobots in fury when there was sudden flash of light and the sound of shifting metal. He suddenly turned to see the very angry form of nexus prime looming over him. Nexus brought his great foot up and brought it crushing down on their enemy, who only roared a battle cry as he was seemingly crushed. Nexus then cried out and backed away. He lifted his foot and pulled out bludgeons sword, which was driven into his sole like a nail. As the autobots approached the stomp mark, they were shocked to see only bludgeons shattered armor in the crater, rather than his actual body.

"fools, this planet was never yours, the fallen shall rise again!" bludgeons voice echoes through the chamber

The group had no intention of going to search for him, expecting that he had already fled. Making nexus prime whole again and ending shockwave were victory enough. As the group turned to head back up through the warehouse, a figure appeared in the passage way.

"so, did I miss anything?" Amalgamous asked innocently


	18. Chapter 17

"_Logos Prime, or rather, Liege Maximo, was the 11__th__ of us created and was the true evil entity among us. Charismatic, manipulative and egotistical, his main concern was his own gains, personally renaming himself shortly after our creation with a title he viewed as one representing power and leadership. The only thing more dangerous than his deadly scythe was his "forked tongue" and mastery of words. He was always observing, calculating, and scheming to better improve his standing among us; he saw us as pawns to be manipulated in his personal gain. Whereas our dark brother was fueled by anger and jealousy which lead to being corrupted by unicron,, maximo was willfully wicked and traitorous from apparently the beginning, subtly insighting discord and disharmony among us. He and our fallen brother seemed very close, both representing the darker aspects of our nature, and like our brother, he likewise seemed to resent the additional affection that solus had for nexus. His voice was constantly a whisper of doubt and suspicion in the fallen ones ear. It was largely due to maximos machinations that lead to the fallens great betrayal. I don't actually believe he intended for solus' murder, as he seemed just as shocked as the rest of us. It seemed that he wanted to use the fallens misguided aggressions as a force to weaken those of us who were the greatest threats to his eventual play for power. Though he attempted to hide his involvement and rally against the fallen one with us, his selfish deeds were soon discovered. While the fallen acted on instinct, not always using foresight, maximo was more intelligent. Even as he plotted and schemed, he still wished to avoid and even seemed to fear punishment or penalty for his scheming. In our eyes, the fallens deeds were the result of a random act of blind aggression which caused him to fall to darkness, yet maximo willfully chose to plot against us. After the fallens defeat and banishment, he quickly fled cybertron into the depths of space. It was his very actions of wicked self-interest that lead to Vector loosing hope in our brotherhood. The covenant revealed that he began creating an army, The Great Cybertronian Empire, formed from the early cybertronian explorers who held similar ideals to him and what cybertron and its people should represent; purity, strength and supremacy. Next to our fallen brother, maximo will be a greater challenge than any of the other primes you have sought, or maybe not, I can't see everything y'know. As his empire is mobile, there is no way to plot any fixed location, but as Alchemist went into space to bring maximo to justice, the two are likely not far from each other. Good luck Optimus."_

"huh, at least I have a better idea of what to expect this time around" optimus sat back

"yes optimus, in all honesty, I have no idea what you will face from maximo"

"you call him liege maximo as well?"

"we all have, for as long as I can remember. It was what he wanted to be called, and we obliged our brother without second thought really"

"did you never think that by indulging his ego, you were feeding his vanity?"

"well obviously now we see that"

Optimus glanced back at her. For some reason, he was uncomfortable with solus using elita-one as a host, though he no right to object. His mind turned back to liege maximo.

"the notes say nothing about him being the size of a combiner, which is something is distinctly remember" he thought

"optimus, a time that I knew would come finally has. My last two brothers are perhaps the greatest threats you may ever encounter, and you must be suitably prepaired to face them"

"what do you mean solus"

Solus turned her back to him headed into the next room. A few moments later, she returned bearing her own great forging hammer in both hands. Whereas arcees smaller frame had difficulty holding it, elitas stronger build allowed her to better wield it. She stepped forward and held it out to him. Optimus stepped forward, yet hesitated to take it. Solus nodded with a smile and he took it into his own hands, inspecting it, admiring every detail of its ancient design.

"what are we going to do?"

"I am going to teach you how to use it"

"you cannot?"

"only a prime can unlock the forges true power to create, and although I am a prime in spirit, I am no longer one of body. Follow me optimus."

Solus lead optimus to the bowels of the Hand, into the engine room where a large metal slab, a work station, had been set up. Various rare metals and other substances optimus didn't recognize lay about.

"I will not go easy on you optimus. I cannot be a kind, coddling teacher. Time is short, we have great threats to face and much work to do. You already have the cyber caliber sword that nexus gave you, but now I will help you craft something to help you defend against the powers my brothers command. Optimus, can you handle this?"

Optimus looked back at the stern look solus had imprinted on elita face; it unnerved him. But, he knew she was right, he had to open himself to what she had to teach and push forward, no matter how difficult it may be. He looked back at her with understanding eyes and nodded. He confidently grasped the hammer in both hands and suddenly felt a surge in the matrix and the forge suddenly glowed and was alive with energy.

"ok, let's get started" solus smiled

The rings of the forges strikes reverberated throughout the ship, drawing the attention and interest of the other autobots. One by one they made their way to the lower levels of the ship, cramming themselves in the doorway, they watched in utter amazement. Molten energy was extracted from the engines into a makeshift furnace to help the forging process; its light lit the room like the flicker of a fire pit. Besides that, the only light in the room was the bust of light emitted by the strikes of the hammer. Solus could be seen seriously instructing and directing optimus' efforts but the others could not hear her over the roar of the engines and the shattering ring of the hammer striking the metal. Her eyes burned bright and fierce in the dark like only a primes could. Optimus looked strained, tired; they had been at it for hours and the past few failed attempts had taken their toll on him, but he powered through with all his energy. The heated metals morphed and fused as they were exposed and shaped by the energy of the hammer. As the process neared its end, the power of the forge grew, and soon the flashes of its strikes were too bright for the autobots and they were forced to withdraw into the corridor. Suddenly, there was silence. The strikes of the hammer had stopped and the light of the furnace faded. They waited, some patiently, some not so much, then, elita appeared in the doorway, smiling proudly. She stepped aside and out walked optimus, wielding the forge and brightly glowing angular shield that obstructed most of his form. It still radiated with heat and energy.

"autobots…" solus announced

"I give you the first prime relic forged in centuries, The Skyboom Shield!"

The autobots crowded around and examined the relic with wonder, at the item itself and the fact that they had seen its creation. In his awe, bulkhead reached out to touch and examine it, which resulted in his fingertip getting melted.

"ow, slag it!"

"yeah, it's still hot, didn't think that needed to be said" ratchet grimaced

"sorry, just kinda got lost in the moment. As a former construtibot, that was like…art at its finest"

"you did well optimus, you did me and elita proud" solus smiled

Optimus nodded wearily. A few hours later, optimus woke up from recharge; he really needed the rest after his experience. As her turned, he saw that there was a message on his communicator from elita.

"when you are fully recharged, please come to the rec room, and bring trion journal. The crew has some questions. Love Eli" it read

Optimus finally found the energy to get up off his berth and, after finding the journal, headed out of his room. When he got there, most of the crew was waiting for him and the rest soon arrived.

"what is this all about?"

"well optimus, we just had some questions about, well everything" ironhide spoke up

"with everything that has been going on with the primes, we just realized how little we know about all of this. I mean how and why it happened, how everything started" bumblebee added

"y'see prime, it's just that this is all about ancient past stuff that, well, nobody really knows. We just thought that maybe you might be able to clear things up. Just a little history lesson dig" jazz piped up

"I see. I understand my friends. You have a right to know why this is happening and what great story you are part of. Thankfully, as always, alpha trion has had the forethought to include such a section in his journal. A condensed version of history that may help you better understand"

"lay it on us prime" brains grinned

Optimus found a seat at the head of the room and the other autobots all found their own places to sit or lay.

"_long ago, many billions of years ago, two great cosmic beings roamed the universe. It is unknown if there are or were more of their kind out there. One, Primus, represented light, life and creation while the other, Unicron, embodied darkness, chaos and death. Eternal opposites, they roamed the universe for eons, exploring and battling each other more times than could be counted. Primus eventually realized that the brothers were to equally matched and that the balance of power had to be shifted for either one to prevail. In one act, primus syphoned some of his own life energy and created us, the 13, from it and transformed his weakened body into the form of a metal planet, cybertron. _

_We settled on his new form, taking time to first adjust to our new existence, experiment with our abilities and grow closer as siblings. It was then that we used the essence of primus still lingering on the surface to form our special artifacts, and solus set about crafting other weapons and relics for us with her forge. Soon, we had our plan and lured unicron to us. Intrigued by but unthreatened by us, our variety of powers and individual attacks and capabilities proved more than he was prepared to contend with and after a long fierce battle, we finally managed to defeat and cast his weakened form out into the emptiness of the void. With our victory achieved, we set about forming a home on cybertron, building a fortress home and our own society. We each ahd our duties and desires to fulfill while we explored and charted cybertron as it mature from its primordial state, and enjoyed the peace we had. Soon, we heard the fading call of primus, and were beckoned to the well of allsparks, which had formed from a hole created by unicrons attack, and went all the way down to primus' core. At his command, we each injected a portion of our energy and essence into the well, which primus used to form new forms of life that soon began to surge onto cybertron. _

_As the great wild beasts and simple humanoid metal being like us began to thrive, and so did we, for a time at least. Disharmony began to grow amongst us and soon, fueled by anger, jealousy and his treatment by the other, the fallen one began to dabble in dark arts and knowledge and even wished to explore the nature of unicron. Everything came to a head when a particularly fierce argument lead to his finally turning to violence and he murdered solus in his blind rage. Finally giving in to his darker nature, he fought us and fled to be with his new master, who had been reaching out to him. We followed him and confronted the traitor and his master. Thankfully, unicron was still weakened and the fallen was caught off guard and with our combined power, we were able to force them into a black hole, imprisoning them in another dimension, though their evil was still able to reach out into this plain to cause chaos. _

_We returned home, already compromised, but were further betrayed by liege maximos schemes. We lost hope and purpose and one by one, we separated. Eventually, only prima, alchemist, nexus' fragments, the thirteenth and myself remained on cybertron. Then they came; the quintessons, quintus' wayward creations. They quickly took control of the planet, enclaving its many lifeforms, building cities and factories where our young species was forced to build new robots. Eventually, the quintessons grew overly comfortable enough that they let down their guards, allowing us to lead our people in a rebellion and forced the invaders off our world. However, their damage had been done, our beautiful young planet had been compromised and our way of life had changed. We decided to embrace this new form of civilization and we persevered in our new society. We began to build bodies for the new sparks extracted from vector sigma, the interface that now sat over the well of allsparks. Peace and progress flourished, but the animosity between the former warriors and workers always seemed present and conflict plagued our world, all through cybertrons history, even to this day."_

"by primus" ratchet rubbed his forehead

"that was heavy prime" jazz sighed

"heck yeah" ironhide groaned.

"well, you guys did ask" elita shrugged

"history is never as glamorous as one would think, but it is important that it be remembered, as it has a way of repeating itself" optimus said as he closed the journal.


	19. Chapter 18

The autobots were currently in orbit around a mostly ocean covered world. Preparations were underway for their unavoidable battle against liege maximo and his forces. Suddenly optimus was called to the bridge.

"what is it?"

"prime, we're picking up a distorted signal from the planet below. A decepticon one." Jetfire reported

"did they follow us?"

"I don't think so. This one doesn't match lockdowns ship, and as I said, the signal somehow…corrupted"

"I suppose we should investigate. Do you have a visual yet?"

"getting it now sir" preceptor answered

What appeared on the screen was a purple and grey battle ship, not quite as big as the Hand, down on the planet, hovering a mile or so above the watery surface. Optimus and the others studied it for a moment.

"that ship looks familiar, does it not?" preceptor spoke up

"hold on a tick, aint that…"

Optimus' eyes widened as the realization dawned on him and soon the rest of the autobots.

"tidal wave!" he gasped

"son of a, he's still online, I thought he got taken out during the war. He was as tough as a combiner" jazz frowned

"who is tidal wave?" road rage asked

"a massive decepticon warrior, with the alt mode of powerful battleship. He was one of megatrons former elites, before the creation of the combiners"

"and he wasn't destroyed. Records show that he was spotted fleeing cybertron at the start of the final battle of the war" ironhide cut in

"hmm, he was always a bit slow upstairs…" bulkhead started

"but a coward he was not" drift finished

"we do have a more important mission, but this does warrant investigation. Jetfire, bring down from orbit"

"will do"

The ship descended to the point where it was near parallel with tidal wave, and yet they read no activity. Suddenly, all his external cannons and weapons came alive and trained on the Hand. As the weapons prepared to fire optimus hurriedly opened a comm channel to the decepticon.

"tidal wave, wait stand down, we are not here to fight!" optimus announced

Nothing happened for nearly a minute when the weapons finally powered down, yet there was no word or answer from tidal wave. Then a voice answered over the comm, though it was not one that optimus knew to belong to the titan. Then the video screen lit up and on it was black and gold bot.

"you, I know you"

"glad to know my reputation proceeds me, optimus prime. Yes, I know who you are as well" the bot mused with a grin

"who is this prime?"

"cannonball, a known pirate. What are you doing in control of tidal wave, what have you done to him?!"

"it's cannonball the 5th actually, and we simply shanghaied him from the bots who shanghaied him" he smiled

"who could have…"

"You may know them as the constructi…bots or something, bunch-o-green fellows"

"the constructicons!?"

"that's them! They took control of this here big fellow and shut down his T-cog and used him to go pirating. But that there is our trade, so we took over and tossed 'em in the brig"

"wait, why am I speaking with you cannonball, the records show you served under thundertron"

"I am captain now! We mutinied against that arrogant crusading beast bot fool some time ago, left him and those loyal to him on some forsaken space rock to rot!"

"and what of tidal wave?"

"well, when we came a looting, this here colossus left our old ship in quite a state, so we needed a new one, and he seemed quite the worthy replacement, once them build-o-bots and his pesky free will were taken care of"

"disgraceful" ratchet scowled

"indeed, even putting your vile profession aside, while tidal wave may be a former enemy, I cannot allow you to enslave his very body and will"

"we aint askin"

"autobots…"

"open fire!" cannonbolt shouted as the line went dead

Suddenly tidal waves weapons began to unload into the Hands starboard side. The shields were raised and fire was returned until a mad fire fight erupted. The autobots were careful to only attack the weapons and not damage tidal wave himself to severely. He was a living bot after all.

"autobots, keep their attention, and fight as hard as you can if boarded!"

"where are you going optimus?"

"to board them and free tidal wave from the pirates' thrall. They battle will likely keep them from noticing me, and I sense that he will likely assist in dealing with them after their treatment of him. Good luck autobots"

Optimus flew through the hallways to one of the roof bulkheads. The ships were close enough that with a bit of a run, he was able to jump onto tidal waves deck, with the smoke from a blast covering his approach and entry into the ship. In the bowls of the ship, in what had been reconditioned into a holding cell, Scrapper, Long Haul, Mixmaster, Scavenger, Hook and Bonecrusher sat, miserable.

"the course of piracy may be considered one of criminals, but it is in fact the course taken by those who stand against the oppressive rulers who govern the masses!"

The team was once again being subjected to the speeches and pontificating of their guard, Quillfire. The porcupine looking bot was an anarchist in every sense of the word and constantly spouted his anti-government views. He was driving them crazy.

"quillfire, answer you swab"

"what is it fellow revolutionary?"

"come and take the helm, the crew is gathering in the dock to board the enemy ship"

The stout, spikey bot scurried away down the hall. As the the group was left wondering what all the commotion outside was, a vent suddenly collapsed and bot fell to the floor.

"optimus prime, what are you doing here?" scrapper asked

"im here to free tidal wave from cannonball. I take it from your situation that, if freed, you wouldn't be opposed to helping me?"

The group huddled together and discussed for a few seconds. Even optimus found it a bit ridiculous and frustrating. They did not like the idea of helping their greatest enemy, but they were on the same side at the moment. Optimus was already opening the laser door when the turned back to him.

"alright prime, we're in" scrapper nodded

The group made their way to the ships control hub, which was actually tidal waves essential systems regulator. They would need to reconnect his still active brain to his body to give him back control. As they did this, the battle outside still raged. The Hand suddenly shot away from tidal wave. As the pirates prepared to follow, the hand suddenly came about to line up on the enemies' opposite side. Their right side had suffered serious damage from the enemies' cannons, so the autobots decided to change their strategy and show off their undamaged defenses and weapons on the enemy ships opposite side. From nowhere, more attacks the came raining down on tidal waves deck. Andither ship appeared from above and lined up on the opposite side of the hand.

"is that who I think it is?" jazz was dumb struck

"If it was then this just got even crazier"

"optimus, come in, we have a situation up here! Optimus!" ironhide called over the comm

There was no answer. The autobots thought they saw a figure exit the new ship and board tidal wave but could not tell in the carnage. Optimus and the constructicons made it to tidal waves neural control center without being detected. They quickly set about their task.

"why did you not form devastator to deal with the pirates?" optimus asked without looking away from his task

The constructions seemed uncomfortable with the question and how to answer. Ever the leader, scrapper finally spoke up.

"we had gotten overcharged on energon and didn't quite understand the seriousness of the situation, even as tidal wave did his best to warn and protect us"

"protect you, but, you disabled him, why would he…"

"we only disabled his T-cog, his mind and control of his body were still his. We simply locked him in alt mode. We simply worked well together I guess"

Suddenly there was the sound of primed weapons. A group of identical, Stormtrooper-looking pirate troops stood in the doorway. Suddenly a furious battle cry filled the chamber and a silver figure barreled from the hallway into the pirates. In a flurry of metal and cannon blasts, the pirates each fell. Standing in the place was none other than megatron, smiling the same prideful grin he always had.

"megatron!" the constructicons all gasped

"megatron, how, you were sent to…"

"time enough for that late optimus. I hacked into and intercepted your transmission with cannonball. It would seem we both came up with the same course of action to rectify the situation"

Optimus suddenly felt much less unsafe. He was alone with his mortal enemy, the fragment of a decepticon combiner and was inside the head of a living war machine. As much as it went against his conscience, perhaps it wasn't worth it to save tidal wave. If he acted fast enough he could escape or even set tidal waves bodily coordinator to blow. It scared him how willing he was to blow up another being, a currently defenseless one from the inside.

"our scans show that most of the crew has gathered in the cargo hold. Finish what needs to be done here prime, we will sweep the ship for stragglers and make for the bridge, lets move"

The decepticons took off down the hall, leaving the confused prime alone. Megatron seemed so calm, so friendly. Not even a threat or vow of vengeance. As if the centuries of war and rivalry between them didn't happen. As if they were but old friends. He didn't have time to worry about that now, he was almost done. Through the matrix he could sense tidal waves mind, his spark. It was in distress, struggling for freedom again. On the bridge, quillfire was at the makeshift helm cannonball had installed. He was monitoring the battle and making sure the shields and weapons were online while the others prepared to board the enemy ships. The hatch to the bridge then bust open, with megatron standing in the threshold.

"Oppressor, feel the sting of the revolution!"

Quillfire then crouched down, pointing his back spines outwards then suddenly shooting them outwards in every direction. Megatron managed to dodge the sharp projectiles, though a few of the constructicons were not as lucky. None were fatally wounded, and the group rushed quillfire. The six soon sad the stout bot hoisted up over their heads.

"take him down to your old room lads, we'll deal with later" megatron smirked

Quillfire cursed and struggled as the group happily marched out of the bridge with him. Megatron quickly set about shutting down the cannons, and after a quick message the other ships followed. Deeper, optimus finally completed the final connection and a surge of energy burst out from tidal waves brain module to the rest of his body. In the cargo hold, the pirates had assembled and prepared to board and take both enemy ships. Cannonballs first mate, brimstone, set up a box for his captain to stand up and address the crew. Cannonball stood up and held up his right hand, which had a blade instead of a hand.

"fellow buccaneers, we shall enter into eternal glory as we go forth and slay both autobots and decepticons. The galaxy shall know the name of the dreaded Star Seekers and tremble!"

"only place you going is down" came the booming baritone that was tidal waves voice

"oh slag" cannonball cursed

Suddenly the floor of the cargo hold slid away, sending the pirates falling far into the endless ocean below. Optimus has joined megatron in the bridge just in time to watch the evacuation on the security camera. Optimus nodded, satisfied, while megatron suddenly placed a friendly hand on his shoulder.

"it's the little things, isn't it prime" he smiled.

The look of a genuine smile on megatrons face plate was a very foreign and odd looking thing. And the fact that it was aimed at him made an uncomfortable tingle go through optimus' spark.

"what is this sudden change about megatron? He demanded

'in due time optimus, but first let us put a bit more distance between us and our adversaries. Tidal wave, would you be kind enough to take us up and set us down on the moon"

"very well megatron" he answered reluctantly

All three ships made their way upwards through the atmosphere. The constructicons finally made it back to the bridge, though with one more to their group.

"optimus prime, we neglected to mention that someone you might know had also been taken prisoner. From the back of the group a medium sized blue and yellow bot with turbines on his shoulders pushed forward.

"seaspray, how did you get here!?"

"don't you remember prime, after the war you granted my request to…"he started in his odd, gargley voice

"to explore aquatic worlds, yes, now I remember my friend"

"I was doing so here when those pirate jerks nabbed me"

"with all the commotion we forgot about the little guy" mixmaster spoke up.

Soon all three ships were set down on the moon and effecting repairs. There was still a lot of tension and the groups all mostly kept to themselves for the time being. In the meantime, after insistence from both leaders, the constructicons reconnected tidal waves T cog. The warship suddenly broke apart and reformed into a massive warrior tall enough that even devastator would have to look up. The constructicons braced themselves from all sides. They either faced arrest but the autobots, punishment for desertion by megatron or being crushed like bugs by the vengeful titan. But none of either came.

"at ease" megatron spoke

"while I have harbored anger that you deserted me at what I thought would be my greatest hour, it wasn't. And though you may have made some difference, you may just have likely fallen like the others. I realize now that in my desire to win, I made you lot, and you tidal wave, feel unappreciated and of little use, and for that, I do not admonish or stop you from forging your own fortunes in the universe"

Every face was painted with shock or confusion. This was not the megatron they all knew. The constructicons then turned to tidal wave, who looked down at them and nodded.

"still want to journey with you. Combiners made me useless, but you rely on me. Give me purpose. Be ship AND team member"

"exquzzzz mezzzz" waspinator spoke up

"canzzz wazzpinator joinzz you?"

"waspinator?" meagtron said with narrowed eyes

"mighty megatron, you hazz been so nizzze to wazzpinator, be I dontzz belongzz here. Wazzz in wrong plazzze at wrong time. And thingzz have gotten zzzzo more dangerouzzz now. Wazzpinator always getz blazted and blown upz. Univerze iz juzt to dangerouz for poor wazpionator" he whined

All eyes turned to megatron, who had stood motionless and listened intently to his subordinates' plea. He simply nodded to waspinator, who smiled, which was quite a sight with his toothy mouth and mandibles. He walked over to the constructicons, who seemed to welcome the company. Seeing this, demolishor and snowcat looked to each other with the same idea and went to walk forward to do the same. Both were then seized by the back of the necks and pulled backwards.

"don't even think about" slipstream sneered at them

She never really found comfortable company with the violent psychopaths that usually make up the decepticons ranks. These two were thick headed goons, but they were far from the worst company. She also found some regular satisfaction in assert her dominance over them. Sometimes all it took was for her to bat her eyes to get them to do what she wanted. After saying their thank yous and goodbyes, the third party departed for parts unknown.

"alright megatron, enough stalling, what's all this about!?"

The two leaders stared each other down as their respective groups gathered behind them.

"I have come to warn you optimus…from the 13"

"what do you mean"

"I had sworn, before the 13 and primus himself to put our feud aside, for now, to assist you in secure cybertron future"

"….what message did they send you with"

"beware megatronus prime"

Even in the dead of space, the mere utterance of the name seemed to send a wave of cold over everyone present, through their very sparks.

"he and his master, unicron are behind all of this, even the war. They seek to undo you and cybertron itself"

Megatron chose not to mention his history with the fallen, for fear of undermining his intentions. He had also come to question whether he could truly lay blame for his actions on the fallens manipulations. Optimus felt uneasy as well. His dream, or vision was correct. The shared name obviously means some connection between megatron and the fallen. But there was no time to discover it now.

"optimus, we got incoming, lots of incoming!"

"the quintessons?"

"the ships from alchmists primes' planet, the cybertronian empire fleet"

"liege maximo. He's here."


End file.
